Russian assets impasse faces obstacles beyond Belgium

Among them is Norway, whose finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, is arriving in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss Kyiv’s financing needs among other policy topics. Economists and Norwegian politicians have suggested that Norway, bolstered by its giant sovereign wealth fund, provide the guarantee for the reparations loan. While welcome, the chances of that happening are slim, according to the official quoted above. The Commission is also encouraging EU capitals to use a recent €150 billion initiative for procuring defense contracts, dubbed SAFE, to get more weapons into the hands of Ukrainian troops. For the rest, the EU will have to step in unless Belgium, Hungary and Slovakia relent. EU leaders are next scheduled to meet in mid-December. But the same official said that an agreement on the reparations loan then would be too late, as it’ll take months to get aspects of the deal through some national parliaments, including France and Germany. Delays at the EU level also have a knock-on effect on international financing for Ukraine from the world’s lender of last resort. The International Monetary Fund will only lend more money to Kyiv when it’s comfortable with the country’s financial health, and the reparations loan is key to securing a positive outcome. Gregorio Sorgi, Giovanna Faggionato, and Ben Munster contributed to this report from Brussels.