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European Union leaders will on Thursday discuss plans to use the profits of frozen Russian assets to re-arm Ukraine’s battle-stricken forces.
Josep Borrell, the bloc’s top diplomat, has proposed transferring 90 per cent of the proceeds to a Brussels-managed fund that could buy weapons for Kyiv.
The scheme could ultimately raise up to €3 billion in Europe for the war-torn nation, according to European Commission estimates, at a time when there are significant doubts over America’s financial and military support.
Some 70 per cent of those frozen Russian assets are being held in clearing houses in Belgium, which has backed the plan.
But there are doubts over whether military neutral countries Ireland, Austria and Malta will sign up to the pact. Hungary and Slovakia, which have opposed weapons shipments to Ukraine, are also likely to object.
An EU diplomat said: “There is a lot of opposition from many European countries. There is a feeling we should wait for the G7 so we don’t do something the Japanese and Transatlantic partners are not doing.
“We have the biggest interest in Europe. The European Central Bank has very clearly warned that if you do some things you might regret later it might destabilise Europe as a safe haven for deposits in the future.”
The EU scheme requires leaders to unanimously back it, leaving it open to being watered down.
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