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The heads of state and government agreed early Friday morning at the EU summit to support Ukraine's financing with a rescue loan of 90 billion euros. This was confirmed by the permanent Council President António Costa, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and also the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during press conferences.

The financing, however, does not – as originally planned – come directly from frozen Russian assets in Europe amounting to 210 billion euros, which is mostly managed in Belgium by the financial service provider Euroclear. After nearly 18 hours of negotiations over a proposal developed by the Commission, this option was abandoned. Instead, the already used method of an interest-free loan to the Kyiv government is employed.

Technically, the whole process is supported by the EU's joint budget. The EU Commission borrows on financial markets. The member states' governments are liable for these loans, but not all. Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic refused to participate in the guarantees for this part of the EU budget but agreed that the other 24 EU partners – including Austria – would proceed this way.

Long discussions
There was extensive debate over the original proposal by the Commission. Before the summit, it seemed that only Belgium and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would oppose a "reparations loan" – the credit financing based on frozen Russian assets.

Orbán did so from a fundamental position. He accused others of wanting to continue the war. Hungary has been sabotaging all EU plans to support Ukraine for months, wherever possible, in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin. More and more often, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also joins this stance.

Belgium in distress
Prime Minister Bart De Wever's reasons are quite different: Euroclear is a Belgian company, a financial service provider. He was not fundamentally against the model of financing through Russian assets; however, De Wever demanded extensive guarantees from EU partners for his country in case Russia reacts with countermeasures, damages Belgian companies, attacks his country with drones and cyberattacks, and later seeks to recover the money for the huge loan through damages claims at an international court. Belgium, a small country, would then be left alone with enormous burdens.