Two-year deal will cover most of Ukraine’s needs, but will be secured against EU borrowing rather than Russian assets
European Union leaders have decided to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, after failing to agree on using frozen Russian assets, diplomats said in the early hours of Friday.
“We have a deal. Decision to provide €90bn ($106bn) of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,” EU Council president Antonio Costa said in a post on social media.
With public finances across the EU already strained by high debt levels, the European Commission had proposed using frozen Russian central bank assets to secure a huge loan to Kyiv, with joint borrowing against the EU budget as a second option.
It’s a shame (and maybe shameful) they couldn’t use the frozen assets. I found this from an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, but didn’t want overpost the story.
“Some €210 billion of Russian assets are frozen in Europe, most of them in the Belgian financial clearing house Euroclear. Belgium had objected to the loan plan, calling it legally risky and warning that it could harm Euroclear’s business.”
Think it’s important to see what influence banks have on highly political decisions.
Link to Sydney Herald article, similiar reporting.
I’m somewhat disappointed that they could not find a way to use the agressor’s own assets.
Perhaps it’s true that laws would have to be changed and some treaties (with Russia) should be exited from. I hope this provides the incentive to change them and do that.
I think it should be a feature of international law: if one tries to conquer a country, one should be prepared to have assets confiscated and given to the target of agression to help them defend against it.
