Overview

• EU finance ministers meet on 10 October in Luxembourg to discuss the European Commission’s proposal and hear updated technical work, according to diplomats.
• The plan would mobilize roughly €175–176 billion in Russian state cash held at Euroclear to support a €140 billion reparations loan for Ukraine and repay earlier G7 credit.
• Belgium, which hosts Euroclear, rejects any step that could be interpreted as confiscation and demands enforceable guarantees that all EU states share current and future risks for Euroclear and the Belgian state.
• Belgium also seeks guarantees that do not end when sanctions are lifted and wants immediate provisioning if Euroclear is ever required to return assets after a settlement.
• Options under consideration include bilateral guarantees to Belgium or embedding them in the next EU budget, both of which need unanimity and national parliamentary approvals, with EU leaders set to revisit the issue in Brussels later in October.