Key members of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s five-party coalition have supported his refusal to wave through a complicated scheme to use Russian assets in Europe for Ukraine.
“I totally agree with the prime minister,” his coalition partner Georges-Louis Bouchez, who leads the French liberal Reformist Movement (MR) party, said on Friday.
“It’s an easy solution for the moment but a big problem in the future,” the MR leader said.
Echoing De Wever – who hails from the Flemish nationalist N-VA party – Bouchez said that other European countries must provide guarantees to ensure Belgium is not left on the hook for the €140 billion, should a future court ruling or a peace settlement require it be returned one day to Russia.
At a European summit on Thursday, De Wever energetically refused to countenance an EU plan – supported by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – to fashion a loan to Kyiv out of €140 billion of immobilised Russian assets without extra guarantees for Belgium.
Belgium is especially wary of the EU’s plan because it is home to financial clearinghouse Euroclear, which holds most of the Russian central bank assets that were immobilised by the EU shortly after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Belgian prime minister’s criticism of the scheme’s legal and financial risks meant leaders instead tasked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with drawing up alternative methods for financing Ukraine over the next two years. She insisted the reparations loan remained the main option.
The public display of unity comes amid tense negotiations between De Wever and Bouchez over Belgium’s next budget. De Wever wants to shave off €10 billion from the budget but Bouchez is refusing any moves to raise VAT. The Prime Minister said on Friday that if no agreement is reached by 6 November he will resign.
But at the European level, the two parties see eye to eye.
“We don’t block the solution if the rest of the European Union wants this solution. But there is just one condition, and it’s a normal condition. We need guarantees because at the end of the day it’s not possible for Belgium to give back the money if there is any problem,” said Bouchez, during a press conference of the pan-European liberal congress in Brussels.
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot labelled De Wever’s demands “totally legitimate,” in a post on X.
“Bart is fully right to oppose a step that could be hostile and detrimental for Belgium in unimaginable proportions,” said Prévot, who hails from centrist party Les Engagés.
French-speaking Socialist party leader Paul Magnette – whose party is not in the government – compared De Wever to Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán, and said the PM was bringing shame on his country.
