EU summit to discuss leveraging frozen Russian assets as collateral for Ukraine

BRUSSELS

The leaders of 27 EU member states will gather on Thursday in Brussels to discuss whether to use frozen Russian assets worth €210 billion ($246 billion) as collateral to provide a loan to Ukraine.

The event, marking the last summit of the year, will be chaired by European Council President Antonio Costa. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will also attend the summit.

The main agenda item for the summit is providing financial support to Ukraine. Leaders will assess the latest developments in the country and how the EU can continue to support it at the beginning of the meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will connect via video conference to address the summit, after which EU leaders will continue their deliberations on Ukraine among themselves.

The EU and its member states have so far provided a total of €187.3 billion in resources to Ukraine, including military support worth €66 billion, but Ukraine needs more to sustain its war efforts.

Ukraine is expected to run out of Europe’s financial resources in the first quarter of the year.

EU leaders will discuss paying Ukraine reparations in frozen Russian assets. The EU Commission has been working on this idea for some time — Ukraine would have to repay only if Russia paid war reparations itself.

Belgian Premier Bart de Wever had said that the risks needed to be shared with joint action, while establishing legal grounds for Russian assets to be used as collateral.

Some €185 billion of frozen Russian assets are held in Belgium’s Euroclear.

Belgium, Italy, Malta, and Bulgaria support using an alternative solution to Russian assets, while Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia oppose financial support for Ukraine.

EU countries decided last week to freeze €210 billion worth of Russian assets indefinitely.

This decision and various other guarantees are provided to secure Belgium’s support for the plan to use Russian assets as collateral.

At this point, a qualified majority vote, also called the double majority vote, is enough to use Russian assets for Ukraine rather than a unanimous rule. At least 15 member states must vote in favor, accounting for at least 65% of the total EU population, for a decision to pass by qualified majority.

EU leaders are expected to make a qualified majority ruling on using Russia’s frozen assets as collateral for Ukraine at the summit.

Another agenda item is the Multiannual Financial Framework, which includes the EU’s budget for 2038-2034, totaling around €2 billion.

The heads of state will discuss how each member state will contribute to the long-term EU budget.

Leaders will also discuss competitiveness and the geo-economic situation, as well as the bloc's enlargement via potential new member states.