EU under pressure to find solution on Ukraine funding during summit

BRUSSELS, Dec 18 (KUNA) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday stressed the need to reach a final solution on funding for Ukraine, emphasizing that the European Council summit being held in Brussels comes at a "very decisive time", mainly targeting peace in Ukraine "through strength." Speaking to journalists ahead of the start of the EU Council meeting, von der Leyen said, "We have to find a solution. We will not leave the summit without a solution for the funding of Ukraine", stressing that Ukraine needs secure and guaranteed funding for the next two years, 2026 and 2027.
She added that the European Council had committed at its previous meeting to closing Ukraineآ’s funding gap for the next two years, explaining that "the estimated funding needs amount to 137 billion euros, according to our estimates and those of the International Monetary Fund", and that the European Union has pledged to cover two-thirds of this amount, or about 90 billion euros.
She noted that she had put forward two proposals to fund Ukraine, saying, "The first option is funding through the EU budget by borrowing against the budget, and the second option is what is known as the Reparations Loan." She confirmed that intensive discussions would take place Thursday to choose between the two proposals, stressing that what matters most to her is "securing the funding for Ukraine for the next two years by the end of the day." In the same context, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said in remarks to journalists at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels ahead of the start of the summit that the guarantees offered by the European Union under the plan to use Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine are still "insufficient" so far.
De Wever explained that "Belgium will not accept a solution where we are the only ones bearing both the risks and the responsibility", adding, "I have not seen a text that could persuade me to give Belgiumآ’s agreement. I havenآ’t seen it yet; I hope to see it today, but I havenآ’t seen it yet." European Union leaders are scheduled to discuss during the summit ways to ensure sustainable funding for Ukraine amid the ongoing war, against the backdrop of differing positions on funding mechanisms and the use of frozen Russian assets.
Most EU member states support the Commissionآ’s proposal to use frozen Russian assets to finance a loan for Ukraine. Belgium, however, strongly opposes the proposal, fearing serious financial, legal, and security repercussions for the Belgian company Euroclear, which holds most of the Russian assets frozen by the EU.
The European Union agreed last week to freeze 210 billion euros in Russian assets indefinitely, in a move aimed at persuading Belgium to support the blocآ’s plans to use these funds to grant Ukraine a 165-billion-euro loan to cover its needs over the next two years.
A Russian court announced last Monday that the Russian central bank had filed a lawsuit seeking compensation of nearly 228.5 billion dollars from the Belgian company Euroclear. (end) arn.mt