Support for Ukraine
Despite criticism: Merz presses the pace in Russian fortune
Updated on 02.10.2025 – 5:54 p.m.Reading time: 4 min.
The Chancellor pushes, others brake in the EU. What will become of the idea of using the frozen Russian fortune to upgrade Ukraine?
Despite the concerns of important EU countries, Chancellor Friedrich Merz expects a quick decision to use the frozen Russian fortune for Ukraine. “Putin should not underestimate our determination,” said the CDU chairman after the European summit in Copenhagen. “We will now carefully examine this and there will be a specific decision in three weeks at the next European Council, in all likelihood.”
Merz had proposed last week to use the property of the Russian Central Bank for Loans of 140 billion euros to upgrade Ukraine for the further defensive fight against the Russian attackers. However, there are massive concerns, especially in Belgium, where most of the money is stored.
Merz said he still left the summit “with the sure feeling that there is a very great agreement in the European Union and also in the European political community” to use Russian assets for Ukraine aid. “I will support every way that makes it possible to use Russian assets to help Ukraine and to ensure that this war comes to an end as soon as possible.”
Wherever Merz “Optimism moves to a quick agreement remained unclear. So several EU officials made it clear from the summit immediately after the Chancellor’s departure that at the top meeting could at most be agreed in three weeks. The EU Commission could then submit a concrete proposal, which in turn would then have to be discussed by the governments of the Member States.
The Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever put himself in position at the summit as the direct opponent of the Chancellor. He accused the project supporters of neglecting the dangers and having no answers to open questions. You go to unknown waters. “It’s very, very risky,” he said.
In addition to the risk of expropriation of assets of European companies in Russia, de Wever also called the possibility that there could be attempts to attempts against the head of the Belgian financial institution EuroClear.
“I already hear from Moscow: If you feel my money, you will feel the consequences forever,” said de Wever. According to his understanding, that also means in Russian: “We could send you eternity.” The director of Eureclear is already under close personal protection.
