Politico: Merz flies to Belgium to persuade to grant Ukraine reparations loan

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has postponed his planned visit to Norway and is instead flying to Brussels to persuade the Belgian leadership to approve a reparations loan for Ukraine. This was reported by the newspaper Politico.

Merz will arrive in Brussels on Friday, December 5, to convince the Belgian leadership to support a €165 billion reparations loan to Ukraine using the monetary value of frozen Russian state assets held in the country.

A German government spokesperson confirmed that the chancellor will travel to Brussels. According to him, Merz will have a private dinner conversation with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Weever and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Merz canceled his plans to travel to Oslo to make the trip to Brussels after the European Commission proposed a package to fund Ukraine's defense. Time is of the essence, as Kyiv's military budget is expected to be devastated in April, journalists said.

De Wever continues to oppose this initiative, as the lion's share of assets are managed by the Brussels-based financial depository Euroclear. He fears that Russia will retaliate against Belgium, so he is demanding financial guarantees from EU capitals before even considering supporting the proposal.

EU leaders are to discuss the initiative in Brussels on December 18.

Not only does De Wever want substantial guarantees that can be paid out at any time, but he also wants other financial institutions holding Russian state assets across the bloc to meet the same standards as Euroclear.

• On September 10, the European Commission put forward an idea reparations loan of EUR 140 billion, based on the cash balances of Russian frozen assets.
• Thanks to the reparations loan, Ukraine could receive 45 billion euros annually over the next three years – from 2026 to 2028.
• Belgium blocked a decision to approve a reparations loan for Ukraine.