The European Union is facing the danger of the “greatest geopolitical embarrassment“ if its leaders fail to agree on a mechanism to finance Ukraine. This was stated by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever in a speech to deputies in the national parliament, quoted by the publication “Politico“, reports News.bg.
His words were spoken on the eve of the EU summit, at which a decision is expected to be made to provide a loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets located in Europe. Some of these funds are held in the Belgian clearing company Euroclear.
De Wever reiterated his reservations about this approach, calling it problematic from the point of view of international law. According to him, such a step could shake the confidence of financial markets and damage the reputation of both Euroclear and the European financial system as a whole.
Nevertheless, the Belgian Prime Minister made it clear that his country was ready to support the initiative if all member states took an equal share of the risks and if Belgium received clear guarantees against possible retaliation by Russia. In his words, with such solidarity “we will all jump off the cliff together, hoping that the parachute will open“.
He stressed that the lack of a solution and the absence of financial support for Ukraine would lead to its collapse - a scenario that De Wever described as a shame for Europe with consequences for decades to come.
The Belgian Prime Minister also warned that there are forces that would welcome the collapse of European unity and the sinking of the continent into chaos due to the inability to reach an agreement on Ukraine. Although he did not name specific countries or actors, he described such a development as catastrophic and noted that the day was “particularly important“.
In conclusion, De Wever reiterated the conditions under which Belgium would support the so-called reparations loan - the presence of liquid guarantees, protection against countermeasures and full risk sharing between member states. According to him, he has not seen a single official document that meets these requirements.
He also expressed the opinion that the discussion of alternative solutions had been pushed to the background after Germany stood behind the current plan. “The real question later today will be what decision Europe will take“, concluded the Belgian Prime Minister.