European officials suggested Donald Trump’s new peace drive could help solidify support for the plan to use the frozen funds for a reparations loan. The cash would only become repayable to Moscow in the unlikely future scenario that Russia agrees to pay war damages, under the plan.
EU diplomats expect European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to order her officials to present a draft legal text on the reparations loan within days as momentum grows for a solution. “The next step is now that the Commission is ready to present a legal text,” von der Leyen told lawmakers in Strasbourg on Wednesday, without specifying when the document would be put forward.
But despite intensive talks between Belgium and Commission in recent weeks, De Wever still has concerns about legal liabilities and the risk of retaliation from Moscow if the Russian funds were used for the loan.
So policy specialists in Brussels are now turning to how to help Ukraine in the event that the reparations loan proposal does not come together in time for EU leaders to sign off on it at a summit on Dec. 18.
One option gaining support is for a “bridging” loan, financed by EU borrowing, to keep Ukraine afloat during the first months of 2026, according to four officials. That would allow more time to set up the full reparations loan using the Russian assets in a way that Belgium can live with, to provide a longer term solution.
Two diplomats said Ukraine could be asked to repay the initial bridging loan to the EU, once it has received funding from the long-term reparations loan. Another possibility would be a long-term solution involving a combination of the reparation loan and joint EU borrowing.
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