European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they held “very constructive” talks with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever on Friday over an EU plan to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, which Belgium has so far refused to support.
The European Commission proposed an unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets or international loans to raise 90 billion euros for Ukraine.
The Commission, along with most European governments, prefers to obtain a “compensation loan” using Russian state assets frozen in the European Union due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But Belgium, which holds most of the assets in Euroclear’s securities depository, has raised a number of legal concerns, delaying the decision.
“We agree that time is of the essence given the current geopolitical situation,” von der Leyen said in an X post after the meeting in Brussels. She said that the trio “agreed to continue our discussions with the aim of reaching consensus” when the leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states hold a summit on December 18.
Von der Leyen and Merz – according to a German government spokesman – said they had a “very constructive conversation” with De Wever, and said the Belgian situation needed to be dealt with “in a way that makes all European countries bear the same risks.”
De Wever did not make any statement after the meeting, and Belgian authorities did not respond to requests for comment.