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The bloc is navigating internal divisions as the country where most of its institutions are located resists a plan.
12:51, Fri, Dec 19, 2025 Updated: 12:51, Fri, Dec 19, 2025
The prime minister of Belgium Bart De Wever has asked the EU for guarantees (Image: Getty)
The EU's home country has sewn chaos after resisting a plan to finance Ukraine's response to Russia's full-scale invasion. Leaders gave the European Commission permission to keep pursuing a so-called reparations loan backed by Russian immobilised assets. But this plan proved unworkable after a meeting yesterday after resistance from Belgium, where most of the EU's institutions are headquartered are located.
It proved difficult to provide Belgium, where €185billion of the Russian assets in Europe are held, with enough guarantees against risks, both financial and legal, of any Russian retaliation for the handing over of the funds to Ukraine, Reuters reported. Nearly all of the confiscated assets are housed in Euroclear, a depository in Brussels.
In order to guard againat the possibility that Belgium may be forced to repay the money to Moscow on its own if sanctions are lifted, Prime Minister Bart De Wever has urged the EU to provide an extra cash buffer on top of other financial promises and increased safeguards, Politico reported.
The EU is loaning money to Ukraine (Image: Getty)
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EU officials emphasised that to deter Russian aggression, including in the long-term, Ukraine "needs budgetary and military support in order to remain resilient".
They added that heads of state agreed to "address Ukraine's pressing financing needs" for the next two years, including for its military and defence efforts.
The EU wrote that leaders called on its council and parliament to "continue working on the technical and legal aspects of the instrument establishing a reparations loan based on the cash balances linked to Russia's immobilised assets".
The European Council agreed "in the meantime" to provide a €90billion loan to Ukraine for 2026 and 2027, to be based on EU borrowing on the capital markets backed by the EU budget headroom.
It emphasised that any mobilisation of resources of the EU budget will "not impact the financial obligations of Czechia, Hungary or Slovakia".
Most of the EU's institutions are in Belgium (Image: Getty)
The member states opted out, meaning the remaining 24 will finance the loan.
"Orban got what he wanted: no reparation loan," one diplomat told Reuters.
"And EU action without participation of Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia."
"This loan would be repaid by Ukraine only once Russia compensates Ukraine for the damage caused by its war of aggression," the EU wrote.
"Until then, Russia's assets will remain immobilised and the EU reserves the right to use them to repay the loan, in accordance with EU and international law.
"The loan should strengthen Europe's and Ukraine's defence industries and ensure that Ukraine continues to uphold the rule of law and to fight against corruption."
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