EU will eventually use Russian assets to pay for Ukraine war costs, Manfred Weber says – POLITICO

The EU will one day use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, even though leaders failed to agree to do so at a summit this week, the head of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, told POLITICO in an interview on Friday.

“We will use the money for the repayments of the disaster that Russia has created,” Weber said, adding that the money could also be used to repay the EU’s loans to Ukraine.

On Thursday night, EU leaders were unable to convince Belgium, which holds most of the frozen Russian assets, to use them to send funds to Ukraine to help the war effort. Instead, leaders agreed on an emergency backup plan based on EU joint debt, with Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic not taking part.