The EU Council reached a deal after 16 hours of negotiations: Russian assets will remain frozen, and €90 billion will be allocated to Ukraine.

European leaders failed to reach an agreement on the use of frozen Russian assets (€210 billion in total) during the summit which took place in Brussels, these funds are expected to remain frozen until the day Russia pays reparations for the war.

Nevertheless, unanimity has not been easy to reach and the European leaders had to negotiate for more than 16 hours in order to find a common solution.

Notably, the Hungarian President Orban was against of borrowing money from the EU due Hungary’s close ties with the Russian state.

However, together with Czech Republic and Slovakia, consented to proceed with the initiative as long as it did not affect their finances.

Belgium, which holds €185 billion of the total Russian assets frozen in Europe, opposed from the beginning any move to unfreeze them.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni highlighted the outcome of the meeting as a success. “Common sense prevailed,” she said.

Hence, The European Council ultimately concluded with a unanimous decision to provide €90 billion in loans, raised on capital markets, to Ukraine, an amount considered crucial to cover the country’s military and economic needs over the next two years.

French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the essential need to push for peace talks with Moscow.

In this regard, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are expected to hold discussions next Saturday in Miami.

Finally, the President of the European Council António Costa stated after the summit: “We committed, we delivered.”

Benedetta Zimone