German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has played a leading role in pushing for the Russian assets to be used, telling the Bundestag on the eve of the summit it was about sending a “clear signal” to Moscow that continuing the war was pointless.
EU officials are confident they have a sound legal basis to use the frozen Russian assets, but so far the Belgian prime minister remains unconvinced. His defence minister Theo Francken warned ahead of the talks that it would be a big mistake to loan the Euroclear cash.
Hungary is seen as the biggest opponent of the move and, ahead of the summit, Prime Minister Orban and his entourage even suggested that the frozen assets plan had been removed from the summit agenda. A European Commission official stressed that was not the case and it would be a matter for the 27 member states at the summit.
Slovakia’s Robert Fico has also opposed using the Russian assets, if it means the money being used to procure weapons rather than for reconstruction needs.
When the pivotal vote does finally take place, it will require a majority of about two-thirds of member states to go through. Whatever happens, European Council President António Costa has promised not to go over the heads of the Belgians.
“We’re not going to vote against Belgium,” he told Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. “We’ll continue to work very intensively with the Belgian government because we don’t want to approve something that might not be acceptable for Belgium.”
Belgium will also be aware that ratings agency Fitch has placed Euroclear on a negative watch, partly because of “low” legal risks to its balance sheet from the European Commission’s plans to use the Russian assets. Euroclear’s chief executive has also warned against the plan.
“There are many hiccups and obstacles of course still on the way. We have to find a way to respond to Belgium’s worries,” the Finnish official added. “We are on the same side as Belgium. We will find a solution together to make sure all the risks are checked as much as they can be checked.”