EU's Mixed Signals on Ukraine Aid: Money Promised, But Not From Frozen Russian Funds

EU leaders made a big promise to help Ukraine with money for the next two years. This includes funds for its military and defense. However, they didn't agree on using the frozen Russian assets to give Ukraine a huge loan. Belgium had some concerns about this plan. The EU leaders asked the European Commission to come up with options for financial support. They also said that Russia's frozen assets should stay frozen until Russia stops its war on Ukraine and pays for the damage it caused. But they didn't explicitly say they would use these assets to fund a "reparation loan" worth around 140 billion euros. Initially, there was a sentence in the draft that asked the Commission to come up with concrete proposals for using the cash from the frozen Russian assets. But this sentence was removed from the final text. Many EU diplomats were surprised by this change. Belgium's Prime Minister, Bart De Wever, played a big role in this decision. He had three main demands. First, he wanted to make sure that Belgium wouldn't have to bear all the risks alone. Second, he wanted all EU members to share the costs of any legal action that Russia might take. Third, he wanted the frozen assets held by other countries to be part of the scheme. De Wever made it clear that if his demands weren't met, he would do everything in his power to stop the decision. He emphasized the importance of transparency about the risks and the legal basis for the decision.