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EU closes in on deal to use Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine

21 October 2025 08:50 (UTC +04:00)

EU leaders are set to instruct the European Commission to design a legal proposal to use billions of euros in Russian frozen state assets to fund a massive loan to Ukraine, after Belgium signaled it would not stand in the way, APA reports, citing Politico.

The controversial proposal, if adopted, could release up to €140 billion to fund Ukraine's war effort for another two to three years, using Russian state assets that were immobilized after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The European Commission, which has executive power in the EU, first floated the idea in September, but has been waiting for the explicit blessing of European heads of state and government before it moves ahead with a concrete proposal. This is likely to come when the 27 EU leaders hold their quarterly European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

In preparation for the meeting, EU ambassadors informally agreed draft European Council conclusions seen by POLITICO that call on the Commission to put forward a proposal that is "underpinned by appropriate European solidarity and risk-sharing."

This text is "the political go-ahead” for the Commission to issue a proposal after Thursday's meeting, a Belgian diplomat said.

"I’m not so worried about Belgium" creating problems in the European Council, echoed an EU diplomat from another country.

Belgium has taken a cautious approach because it hosts Euroclear, the financial body that holds the frozen assets, and fears a court could force it to repay the money itself. But the Belgian diplomat told POLITICO the country would not oppose the call this Thursday for the Commission to come forward with a proposal.

Still, even if the Commission gets a green light, its legal proposal will have to survive weeks of difficult negotiations with national capitals.