EU Delays Decision on €140B Reparation Loan

EU leaders agreed to address Ukraine’s 2026–27 financing needs but delayed a decision on a controversial plan to use frozen Russian central-bank assets to fund a proposed €140 billion “reparation loan.” Belgium, which effectively controls much of the assets through Euroclear, blocked endorsement and demanded legally binding guarantees and full mutualisation of risk, producing a watered-down summit text that asks the European Commission to present options for financial support. The scheme would have involved borrowing matured funds from Euroclear and lending them to Kyiv on the condition Ukraine would repay only if and when Russia pays reparations — a premise many officials consider unlikely. Russia condemned the idea as theft and warned of retaliation, while Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán opposed the text; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged a rapid decision to finance weapons and defence needs. EU leaders said they will review Commission-drafted options and seek a final agreement at their next summit in December.