Politico reported the information.Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever suggested that the European Commission’s plan to use frozen Russian assets is effectively equivalent to confiscation. Therefore, Belgium has set its “red lines” for using Russian assets to fund the €140 billion reparations loan for Ukraine. This includes an agreement with EU countries to share all current and future risks related to the plan, which involves more than €170 billion in total.The EU rushed to address Belgium’s concerns ahead of a key European Council summit on October 23. Reaching a political agreement at the summit would pave the way for a legal proposal.Among the 27 EU countries, Belgium has the greatest stake, as the financial depository Euroclear — which holds most of the Russian state assets frozen after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — is based there.The Belgian government fears that the country could be held liable for any legal or financial claims filed by Russia. Therefore, it is urging all EU countries to provide loan guarantees, which would effectively mean using taxpayers’ money to cover potential costs.“These guarantees cannot be limited to the €170 billion in cash that the Commission proposes to mobilize. The potential exposure could be much higher than the nominal amount,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told EU leaders during an informal summit in Copenhagen last week.He added another condition: “The guarantees do not automatically end when sanctions are lifted. Arbitration procedures could still emerge years later.”In a statement — a list of discussion points sent to EU leaders on October 1 — De Wever detailed the “red lines” he set for his fellow leaders and the EU executive, which are seeking workarounds to make the plan acceptable to Belgium.These include opposing any measures that could be interpreted as confiscation of assets; legally binding, strictly enforced guarantees that EU countries will share all current and future risks for both Euroclear and Belgium; and an agreement to immediately accumulate funds if Euroclear must return the assets to Russia, for example, after a peace settlement.“The statement by the Belgian prime minister raised lots of difficult questions and they are still being examined,” an EU senior diplomat said on condition of anonymity.