“Like a plane crash” – Belgium rages against loan plan

TT

Published 09.32

 

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever does not want to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. Archive photo. Photo: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/TT

Belgium is further raising the tone in its opposition to the EU using frozen Russian assets for a billion-euro loan to Ukraine.

In a letter to the European Commission, Prime Minister Bart De Wever reiterates his concerns about future damages, the news sites Politico Europe and Euractiv report.

Belgium houses most of the Russian state assets for which the European Commission is expected to present a concrete proposal in the coming days. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened retaliatory measures if the money is moved.

The Commission nevertheless believes that the frozen assets are the safest option to use – something that makes De Wever compare it to a plane crash.

“The risk of a crash is small, but if it happens the consequences will be catastrophic,” he writes, among other things.

To say yes, Belgium continues to require written guarantees of risk sharing from all other EU countries.