Costa clarified that the loan will be provided to Ukraine under the guarantees of the European Union budget.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever noted: “Due to numerous questions regarding the reparations loan, we had to move to an alternative option. As a result, the EU managed to avoid disagreements and remain united.”
According to Reuters, hours of discussions about the reparations loan secured by Russian assets did not lead to clear decisions, as many aspects turned out to be too complex or politically risky at this time.
Although the initial idea of an interest-free loan funded by the EU budget seemed unfeasible, countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic agreed to its implementation, provided that they would not be directly involved in the process.
The European Union decided to keep the frozen Russian assets locked until Moscow fulfills its obligations to compensate Ukraine.
It is worth noting that seven EU countries expressed protest against the idea of seizing frozen Russian assets.
It was previously reported that Japan refused to participate in the EU's proposal to use Russian assets to cover the reparations loan. Additionally, the European Central Bank declined to support the loan for Ukraine amounting to 140 billion euros from frozen Russian assets.
The frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia amount to approximately 260 billion euros and have been blocked in Western countries since February 2022. Of this amount, about 193 billion euros are held in Euroclear accounts in Belgium. Discussions about the possibility of using part of these funds for payments to Ukraine have been ongoing for almost four years.
