On Thursday, Belgium’s prime minister De Wever explained why about €200 billion in frozen Russian assets stays untouched: such money is never spent during a war, he said, only in the peace deal that ends it. A day later, Ursula von der Leyen told reporters that Ukraine’s budget for 2027 has a €70 billion hole.
Europe is in this position by choice. In December it borrowed €90 billion in its own name rather than touch the assets, and only €17 billion of that remains, released as Ukraine delivers reforms. De Wever’s objection is not stubbornness. Most of the money sits at one Brussels clearing house, Euroclear, which would owe it back to Russia if sanctions ended or a court sided with Moscow, and other governments refused to sign open-ended guarantees for that risk.
His sentence also explains why the money stays put. If the assets belong to the peace deal, whoever holds them has a say in it. Washington noticed. According to the Financial Times, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner proposed in Miami last week that part of the money move into a vehicle overseen by the United States. Chancellor Merz answered that the assets stay in Europe and that “this is our business.”
Unspent, the €200 billion is Europe’s insurance for a seat at the table where the end of the war is being drafted. Europe is paying the premium in borrowed money, and the bill for 2027 is €70 billion.
Editor’s note on AI: I use AI tools for translation, English-language editing and, where useful, structural feedback. The arguments, analysis, sources and conclusions are my own, and I take full responsibility for the published text.