BERLIN
\nGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday he is pressing the Belgian government to come to an agreement with the EU to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.
\nThe European Commission and multiple EU member states want to use immobilized Russian central bank assets to provide Kyiv with loans but Belgium, which hosts international deposit organization Euroclear, fears such a move could expose it to crippling legal and financial reprisals from Moscow.
\nSpeaking at a press conference alongside his Slovenian counterpart Robert Golob, Merz said: \u201cWe must do everything we can to bring this war to an end and the use of Russian assets is, in my opinion, an appropriate instrument.\u201d
\nHe said that he was in contact with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on the issue.
\n\u201cI understand his concerns, he has good arguments but we also have good arguments about reaching our common goal,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe are looking for a joint solution with the Belgian state and also with Euroclear so that we can decide on this within the EU with the widest consensus possible.\u201d
\nEU leaders have proposed using the Russian assets to provide Kyiv with a 140-billion-euro ($162 billion) loan to plug looming budget black holes.
\nOut of 235 billion euros\u2019 worth of such assets in the EU as a whole, around 210 billion are held by Euroclear.
\nMerz underlined the urgent need to apply \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d on Russia and dismissed threats of reprisals from Moscow.
\nSuch pronouncements from Moscow are \u201ca repeated ritual,\u201d Merz said: \u201cWe will not be swayed by them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday he is pressing the Belgian government to come to an agreement with the EU to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine. The European Commission and multiple EU member states want to use immobilized Russian central bank assets to provide Kyiv with loans but Belgium, which hosts international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-517351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n