BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 28. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday he is pressing the Belgian government to come to an agreement with the EU to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, TurkicWorld reports via Arab News.
The European Commission and multiple EU member states want to use immobilized Russian central bank assets to provide Kyiv with loans but Belgium, which hosts international deposit organization Euroclear, fears such a move could expose it to crippling legal and financial reprisals from Moscow.
Speaking at a press conference alongside his Slovenian counterpart Robert Golob, Merz said: “We must do everything we can to bring this war to an end and the use of Russian assets is, in my opinion, an appropriate instrument.”
He said that he was in contact with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on the issue.
“I understand his concerns, he has good arguments but we also have good arguments about reaching our common goal,” he said.
“We are looking for a joint solution with the Belgian state and also with Euroclear so that we can decide on this within the EU with the widest consensus possible.”
EU leaders have proposed using the Russian assets to provide Kyiv with a 140-billion-euro ($162 billion) loan to plug looming budget black holes.
Out of 235 billion euros’ worth of such assets in the EU as a whole, around 210 billion are held by Euroclear.
Merz underlined the urgent need to apply “maximum pressure” on Russia and dismissed threats of reprisals from Moscow.
Such pronouncements from Moscow are “a repeated ritual,” Merz said: “We will not be swayed by them.”
