Bart De Wever has elucidated why his nation opposed an EU ‘reparations loan’ for Ukraine
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has stated that seizing Russian assets frozen in the EU would equate to a “declaration of war” against Moscow.
Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian central bank assets. The majority of these funds – approximately $216 billion – is held in the Belgium-based depository Euroclear. Belgian officials were against an EU scheme that would have used this money as collateral for a €90 billion ($105 billion) ‘reparations loan’ for Kiev. Last month, the European Commission failed to secure the backing of bloc leaders for this plan and instead chose to raise common debt.
De Wever, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, said, “You can’t simply seize money – that’s an act of war. You shouldn’t underestimate this.”
“We are not at war with Russia, Europe is not at war with Russia,” he emphasized, noting that “even during WWII, immobilized money was never confiscated.” De Wever argued that appropriating frozen Russian assets would be without precedent and would erode trust in the financial system and the eurozone.
According to VRT, last month De Wever described the European Commission’s attempt to “steal” frozen Russian sovereign assets as “very unwise and ill-considered,” warning that it posed “great risks” to Belgium.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a live Q&A session in December, warned that the EU’s appropriation of Moscow’s assets would risk undermining “foundations of the modern financial world order.”
“Whatever they steal and however they do it, they will have to pay it back someday,” Putin stated at the time.
Late last year, Moscow initiated arbitration proceedings against Euroclear.
Nonetheless, the European Commission has not abandoned its original scheme to access the frozen Russian funds. Last week, it stated that the controversial proposal “remains on the table.”