EU is divided over Russian assets

One group of countries, led by Germany and supported by Northern and Eastern Europe, insists on granting Ukraine a reparations loan secured by frozen assets. They believe that there is no alternative to this mechanism, according to Politico.

They are opposed by Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Malta, Hungary, and Slovakia. They advocate an alternative option of issuing common EU debt guaranteed by the common budget.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that countries must choose between two paths: using assets or joint borrowing.

A possible compromise is a scheme in which only 25 of the 27 EU countries would participate in the financing, with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia, which oppose aid to Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán previously stated that the issue of assets would not be discussed at the summit, and that negotiations had moved on to the topic of joint borrowing.

However, a senior EU official denied this, confirming that the option of using Russian reserves remains on the agenda.

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