Ursula von der Leyen
This was announced by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “I welcome the European Council’s commitment to cover Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years,” the EC president said during a speech in the European Parliament.
According to von der Leyen, the European Commission leadership continues to discuss ways to finance Ukraine with Belgium and other EU countries. Three options are being considered: a general EU loan under budget guarantees, contributions from individual EU member states and a loan against frozen Russian assets.
In February 2022, Western countries froze €190 billion of Russian assets. Most of them are kept in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear. Foreign countries can only dispose of the interest that the Russian assets generate, but not the funds themselves. The proceeds from these assets are used to repay the loan that the G7 countries have extended to Ukraine. In total, the G7 loan program for Ukraine includes €45bn.
