Kirill Chernovol, Researcher at the Gaidar Institute's International Best Practices Analysis Department, at the Gaidar Institute, commented to TASS on the situation around possible EU members’ vote on using frozen Russian assets for the so called “reparation loan” to Ukraine.
Discussion of this initiative was scheduled for the EU summit on December 18–19, but was removed from the agenda. Several countries are against, chaired by Belgium, the custodian of the main assets and demanding risk sharing.
"Currently, 12 EU countries unequivocally support the “reparations loan” initiative, 7 countries disagree or propose seeking alternative measures, and another 8 have not yet taken a clear position. According to the EU Regulation, 15 votes in favor are required for a decision to be made. This means that if at least 3 of the 8 'hesitant' countries vote in favor, the reparations loan will be granted. Among those 'hesitant' are, for example, Austria, Luxembourg, Romania, and Slovenia," explained Kirill Chernovol.