Belgian Prime Minister De Wever is indicating his country is ready to offer maximum resistance against the European Union’s preferred plan on the use of the frozen Russian assets.
Ahead of an all-important European Council meeting today, the European Commission, with support from Germany and some countries bordering Russia, wants to use the assets, totalling approximately €185 billion, to help Ukraine.
That would be to use the money, primarily held by the Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear, underpin a proposed “reparations loan” of up to €210 billion aimed at providing Ukraine with at least €90 billion over the next two years.
De Wever described the EC’s latest plan as a “very unwise and ill-considered” step that could expose Belgium to significant legal and financial risks, equating it to a confiscation and de facto theft.
During the European Council meeting taking today and tomorrow, both sides are set to be at loggerheads over the issue.
European leaders are indicating that Belgium needs to be on board. EC President Ursula von der Leyen earlier claimed that the EC had listened carefully to Belgium’s concerns and taken almost all of them into account in the proposal.
De Wever, though, now says this is not the case and the Belgian concerns have not been addressed
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has issued a scathing letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging her to abandon plans to tap into €140 billion in frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war efforts. https://t.co/ZCX6B9NZCO
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 28, 2025
“We have set conditions, and they are clear and known,” he told Belgian journalists. “Everyone considers them to be rational and reasonable.”
“I simply need to secure those conditions. There are dealbreakers that must be removed from the text. Period.
“Otherwise, they will have to carry me out of there,” he stated.
“On matters that threaten the financial security of Euroclear and Belgium, there is no room for flexibility — let that be very clear,” he added.
“I am not giving up,” said De Wever. “And I give myself a very good chance.”
In the Belgian parliament, where he has the highly exceptional unanimous support from all political parties, he went over the necessary conditions for Belgium to agree and said there were not enough guarantees.
“I have not yet seen any text that would persuade me to change Belgium’s position. I hope to see one today, but so far there is none,” he said.
De Wever also thanked the opposition for their support, who had encouraged him to stand firm during the Council meeting, including the French-speaking Socialists and the Communist Party, who usually tend to disagree with him on everything.
He did add that an agreement for support for Ukraine is essential.
“At the end of the day, we all win if there is an agreement, a good agreement, a sustainable agreement,” he said.
If the EU presses ahead anyway, the Belgian PM said it would be “unfortunate”.
“But if the risks and burdens are fully shared and watertight for our country, then we will jump into the abyss together with all Europeans and hope the parachute will hold us. In that case, we will do it.”
He warned that “the alternative, to not fund Ukraine, is not an option. If we don’t, the country will collapse. And that would be the ultimate geopolitical failure for Europe, one we would feel for decades to come.
“From that point on, we would no longer be a player on the world stage. You may ask yourself whether we still matter today.
“If we have to part ways in chaos after this summit, then it’s over,” he said.
Belgium says the European Union pushed ahead with the plan to use frozen Russian assets without properly addressing the country’s financial and legal risks. https://t.co/kPQvbMDGKC
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 4, 2025
De Wever also was critical of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who used to be against using the Russian assets this way but “made a turn of 180 degress”, as Merz now sees it as the only viable solution to the financial problems Ukraine is facing.
The PM also pointed out that Belgium is not the only country holding immobilised Russian assets in a financial institution.
“But we are the only ones actually transferring the proceeds to Ukraine,” he stated. “This cannot be emphasised enough,” De Wever added, before referencing the international press and the “cynical finger-pointing” directed at Belgium.
Despite the pressure on him from the EU and some nation states, he also has important support, most notably from the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Italy, Malta, Slovakia and Hungary also sided with Belgium.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, angry at European plans to bypass the veto of individual countries in the matter, noted that there was a blocking minority as well.
Von der Leyen, Kaja Kallas and Antonio Costa, the three top EU officials, have all indicated now that they want Belgium on board for the final vote.
Russia has condemned Europe’s plan to use its frozen assets for Ukraine as “piracy” and “theft,” warning it will seize remaining western assets in Russia if the EU proceeds, The Guardian reported.
Behind the scenes, Moscow is preparing legal and regulatory steps to accelerate nationalisations, having already stripped foreign firms of billions since the invasion of Ukraine.
Western firms are still holding an estimated $127 billion (€108.3 billion) in Russia and frozen dividends in type-C accounts are at risk of being redirected to the Russians, according to the Kyiv School of Economics Institute.
Type-C accounts are a system of restricted Russian financial accounts created for residents of “unfriendly” countries after 2022 sanctions, effectively freezing foreign investors’ assets such as securities and cash within Russia, limiting them to specific local uses.
COMMENT: Freezing Russian assets: When political ends justify illegal means, writes @rodballester https://t.co/lxPJjclS0e
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 17, 2025
