Belgium rejects EU plan on frozen Russian assets

Belgium on Wednesday rejected a European Union (EU) plan to use profits from frozen Russian assets to back a major loan for Ukraine, saying the proposal fails to address the financial and legal risks it faces, reported Xinhua.

"We have the frustrating feeling of not having been heard; our concerns are being downplayed," Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot told reporters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, was due to make public later on Wednesday details of its proposal to use the Russian money as collateral to help meet Ukraine's considerable needs through a "reparations loan."

"The text the Commission will table today does not address our concerns in a satisfactory manner," Prevot said, noting that Belgium had "repeatedly" warned that the reparations loan option was "the worst of all."

"It is not acceptable to use the money and leave us alone facing the risks," Prevot said, demanding that the risks Belgium faces under the scheme be "fully covered."

The debate comes as the EU discusses a mechanism to mobilise frozen Russian central bank assets, around 90 percent of which are held at Brussels-based securities depository Euroclear, to raise some 140 billion euros for Ukraine.

Last week, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever also raised sharp objections in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling the proposed plan "fundamentally flawed" and arguing it would violate international law.