Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s controversial suggestion that the EU should negotiate with Russia is convulsing his own coalition government. Speaking to L’Echo, Belgium’s leader made the case for a deal to “normalize” relations with Moscow to regain access to cheap energy, as costs spiral thanks to another war in the Middle East.   Opposition politicians reacted furiously, while parties within De Wever’s government were also quick to distance themselves. Belgium’s ruling coalition required 236 days to negotiate a detailed reform agenda, and their ongoing disagreements have repeatedly turned into public quarrels. The remarks cut against the EU’s broadly hard-line stance toward Moscow since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began and threaten to fuel a sensitive debate in the bloc about sanctions and Russian energy. De Wever’s comments also come after a nationwide poll last week revealed he enjoys widespread support, with the Flemish-nationalist leader’s popularity not only at a record high in Dutch-speaking Flanders, but also growing in French-speaking Wallonia. The strong polling may help explain the prime minister’s willingness to push a politically sensitive argument. “The conflict must be ended in Europe’s interest. Without being naive about Putin. That’s a mistake we must never make again. We must rearm and remilitarize the border. And at the same time, we must normalize relations with Russia and regain access to cheap energy,” De Wever said in L’Echo, adding it was a matter of “common sense.” “Behind closed doors, European leaders tell me I’m right, but no one dares to say it out loud,” De Wever was also quoted as saying. YOU DON’T SPEAK FOR US De Wever’s comments struck a nerve within his ruling coalition, which — apart from the prime minister’s Flemish-nationalist N-VA — includes the Flemish socialist Vooruit party, the French-speaking liberal Reformist Movement, and centrist parties from both sides of the language border, Les Engagés and CD&V.  “The prime minister can say whatever he wants in his own name, but he cannot speak on behalf of the government and claim that we now suddenly want to beg Putin for cheap energy,” Conner Rousseau, president of Vooruit, told the VTM channel on Monday.  In a long reaction Sunday, centrist Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot of Les Engagés called reducing Europe’s dependency on fossil fuels a “strategic necessity.” “Should we engage in dialogue with Russia? Yes,” Prévot said — but added that “dialogue is not the same as normalization.” “Today, Russia is refusing to allow European representatives at the negotiating table. It is sticking to its maximalist demands. As long as that remains the case, talking about normalization sends a signal of weakness that undermines the European unity we need now more than ever,” Prévot said. On Monday, the centrist CD&V echoed Prévot’s words, saying “taking more gas from Putin again would only give Russia more money to continue its war in Ukraine.” IT’S ALL GOOD, HONEST De Wever’s Cabinet told POLITICO in a statement that the prime minister had made his comments in response to a question about a passage in his book Over Welvaart (About Prosperity), which has just been released in French, and concerned a hypothetical scenario after a peace deal. The Cabinet added that Prévot’s Sunday message had been coordinated with the prime minster and was intended as a clarification. Despite Belgium’s long tradition of coalition-building, the current government has struggled to bridge the various positions of its constituent parties — including, most recently, on pension reform and Belgium’s response to a request from Saudi Arabia for military aid. Another issue erupted Monday evening after Interior Minister Bernard Quintin (MR) and Defense Minister Theo Francken (N-VA) announced that the Belgian armed forces would protect Jewish sites around the country, which blindsided Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V). Even after a Friday poll that showed De Wever is the most popular prime minister since 2008, when the category was first tracked, he said he wouldn’t stay on if divisions in his coalition paralyze his government. “If this government becomes incapable of making decisions, I will not remain prime minister. Doing nothing until the end of the legislative term, contenting myself with going to the European Council to play the political heavyweight, does not interest me at all,” De Wever told the La Libre daily. Camille Gijs contributed to this report.

Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it’s time to “turn the page,” after a row between U.S. envoy Bill White and local politicians snowballed into a tense diplomatic spat. “Belgium and the U.S. are longstanding allies, with deep historical bonds” and should now focus on a “positive agenda,” the ministry said in a statement following a de-escalatory meeting between Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot and White. The ambassador stirred controversy last week in a long message that railed against an ongoing judicial investigation into three Antwerp mohalim — Jewish men who perform ritual circumcision. White called the court case antisemitic and Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke “very rude,” prompting an outcry over U.S. interference in Belgium’s legal system. The men are under investigation for allegedly carrying out circumcisions without involving a medical professional; an obligation under Belgian law.  White’s explosive intervention came shortly after Trump’s Polish ambassador sparked a feud with the government in Warsaw, and right before the American envoy to France, Charles Kushner, was summoned by the French government over the U.S. administration’s public comments about the death of a far-right activist after a fight in Lyon. The Belgian clash deepened further when White demanded that Conner Rousseau — leader of Flemish socialist party Vooruit — retract an Instagram video in which he compared U.S. President Donald Trump and ICE officers with Hitler. White declared that Rousseau would officially be banned entry to the U.S. over the video. The Foreign Ministry’s message Tuesday was conciliatory. “The current U.S. administration is not comparable to the Nazi regime. When a comparison is made with Nazism, productive debate ends,” its message read. It also said Prévot had confirmed that the Belgian government is committed to “combating all forms of antisemitism.” But the ministry also insisted that Belgium’s “judiciary is independent and impartial in Belgium, and that therefore its action cannot suffer from political or diplomatic interference,” and rejected “comments personally targeting Belgian politicians.” The U.S. ambassador has indicated that he’ll lift “the idea of travel restrictions” on Rousseau, the ministry also said. Upon leaving Tuesday’s meeting, the ambassador didn’t answer questions from Belgian media about the backlash against his comments. But he told broadcaster VRT that, “We had a great conversation … We are back on track.”

Brussels finally has a regional government after parties came to an agreement following more than 600 days of deadlock.  Seven parties have been locked in negotiations since Tuesday and, on Thursday night, Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of the Francophone liberal Reformist Movement (MR), posted a picture of white smoke on social media.  “We are relieved that after more than 600 days we have a government again in the capital of Europe,” Bouchez told reporters, adding all seven parties had found a common position.  The Belgian capital had been without a regional government since an election in June 2024, with parties unable to agree on forming a coalition, causing chaos for the city’s finances. Brussels is currently grappling with a staggering €15 billion debt, raising concerns about a looming financial crisis.  The parties involved in this week’s talks were the Francophone MR, socialist PS and centrist Les Engagés, and the Flemish leftist Groen, social democratic party Vooruit, liberal Anders and conservative CD&V. Speaking at an informal European leaders summit, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever reacted with cautious optimism to the news. “I’ve seen the WhatsApp messages coming in about it. I mainly want to see what the agreement entails,” he said, adding “the Brussels budget has completely gone off the rails.” Belgium’s devolved system of governance means its three regions — French-speaking Wallonia in the south, Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and Brussels sandwiched between them — each have a government separate from Belgium’s national government. 

A Kazakh court sentenced three Belgian football fans to short jail terms after they dressed in mankini swimsuits made famous by the Borat film. Police detained the Belgian citizens during the Champions League match between Kairat Almaty and Club Brugge on Tuesday evening, according to the news agency Belga. Police said the men were drunk, removed their clothes and caused a disturbance. On Thursday, an Astana court sentenced the men to five days of administrative detention for disrupting public order. A video circulating on X showed three men wearing green mankini-style swimsuits despite freezing temperatures in eastern Kazakhstan, while chanting in Dutch “Borat is van ons ole ole,” or “Borat is ours.” A spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign ministry told POLITICO on Thursday that it was “monitoring” the case together with the Belgian embassy in Astana. “We are providing our fellow citizens with the necessary consular support,” the spokesperson said. British actor Sacha Baron Cohen created the character Borat, a fictional Kazakh journalist, in a satirical TV show that lampooned attitudes in the U.K. and the U.S. A 2006 movie adaptation, in which Cohen appeared as Borat in a neon-green mankini, became an international hit. The movie initially angered Kazakh officials, who banned it. Years later, Kazakhstan’s then-foreign minister said he was “grateful” for the character’s role in attracting tourists, and when a second film was released in 2020 the country embraced Borat’s catchphrase “Very nice” in tourism campaigns. Club Brugge won the match 4-1, keeping it alive in the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s top football competition.

BRUSSELS — Prime Minister Bart De Wever was praised in Belgium on Friday for fending off an EU plan to use Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine. De Wever had pushed back against the proposal for months and never gave ground, forcing EU leaders to pivot to an emergency backup plan based on EU joint debt, something that Belgian politicians from across the spectrum welcomed. “Great work, Bart,” said Belgium’s Defense Minister Theo Francken, who’s from the same party, the Flemish nationalist N-VA, as De Wever. “[You’ve] taught the EU a democratic lesson. It was about time.” “Against the tide and almost completely isolated, he defended our interests against the most powerful players in Europe,” said Valerie Van Peel, president of the N-VA. “Good result for Ukraine and Belgium, good work from BDW,” said Frédéric De Gucht, president of the Flemish liberal Open VLD, an opposition party. “A solidarity Europe against a Russian aggressor.” Several Belgian members of the European Parliament also backed the summit’s outcome. “It’s good that we’re not going on thin ice with the frozen assets, but that we’re going back to the proven method of joint debt,” said Flemish Christian Democrat Wouter Beke. “Belgium has succeeded in making its voice heard,” said Yvan Verougstraete, who’s both a member of the European Parliament and president of the Walloon Centrist Les Engagés (the Committed Ones) party.

BRUSSELS — Europe would face the “ultimate geopolitical embarrassment” if leaders fail to strike a deal to finance Ukraine, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told lawmakers in the country’s parliament ahead of Thursday’s crunch summit. Belgium, the home of the Euroclear bank — which holds some €185 billion in immobilized Russian assets that the EU wants to use to finance Ukraine — has been a staunch opponent of using that money to help Kyiv.  Addressing Belgian MPs on Thursday morning, just before the start of a summit at which leaders will be racing against the clock to agree financing for Ukraine, De Wever again voiced fears that the idea is “questionable” under international law and risks undermining the trust of financial markets and the credibility of Euroclear. Not for the first time, he described the windfall profits — which are used to support Ukraine — from the immobilized assets as golden eggs from a goose. “Today, the plan is to serve that goose, to eat it,” he told MPs. But if the other EU countries agree to fully share the risks and protect Belgium from potential Russian retaliation, “then we’ll all jump off that cliff together … and hope that the parachute will hold us,” De Wever said. “We will do that, because the alternative — no solution, no financing for Ukraine, the country collapses — is the ultimate geopolitical embarrassment of Europe, which we will feel for decades to come,” he added. De Wever said some would only be too happy if “Europe were completely torn apart … parting in utter chaos with no solution for Ukraine and with knives drawn,” without naming names. “It would be catastrophic.” Thursday is, in De Wever’s own words, “a pretty special day.” NOT SATISFIED WITH THE OFFERS On Thursday morning, De Wever repeated Belgium’s conditions for supporting the reparations loan, including liquidity guarantees, protection against countermeasures and shared risks. “To date, I haven’t seen a single text that meets those conditions,” he said.  But De Wever told MPs that he believed serious consideration of alternatives had been wiped off the table when Germany — very publicly — threw its weight behind the reparations loan plan. In resisting mounting pressure to agree to the reparations loan, Belgium is up against countries such as Germany, Poland and the Baltic and Nordic nations, which are staunch backers of the idea. De Wever described them as a “large bloc and a powerful bloc, and the [European] Commission leans that way, too.” But Belgium isn’t totally isolated, as Italy, Bulgaria and Malta have also signaled their opposition to use of the frozen Russian assets. “The challenge later today will be to see: What does Europe say?” De Wever said.

Russia’s frozen state assets in the EU are better suited as a bargaining chip to achieve peace in Ukraine instead of financing a €165 billion reparations loan for Kyiv, according to the chief executive of Euroclear. “At this stage, it would be better to use that money for peace negotiations, rather than setting up an extremely complex and risky legal structure and then losing that leverage in the talks,” Valérie Urbain told Belgian broadcaster VRT on Friday. Urbain’s comments follow the European Commission’s proposed reparations loan on Wednesday, two weeks ahead of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels. Ukraine’s war chest is expected to run dry in April, and leaders must decide whether to use sanctioned Kremlin cash to ensure Kyiv’s survival or support the war effort with taxpayer money. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff suggested that the same assets instead be used for American-led reconstruction efforts once a truce has been agreed. The U.S. would take “50 percent” of the profit from this activity, according to an initial 28-point peace plan, which was heavily criticized by Europeans for favoring Moscow and subsequently replaced by a rehashed plan — which doesn’t appear to be gaining any traction with the Kremlin anyway. The Belgian government, led by Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever, fears the reparations loan could trigger Russian retaliation. De Wever is demanding that EU capitals provide financial guarantees that can pay out at a moment’s notice in case Moscow manages to claw the funds back. Euroclear, the Brussels-based depository, also has a direct stake in the negotiations as it holds the lion’s share of the frozen Russian assets. The financial risks of linking the assets to the reparations loan are too big, Urbain added. Euroclear’s possible bankruptcy from the initiative would “affect the attractiveness of the European market” and impact the global financial market. The Commission has said that the proposals address most of Belgium’s and Euroclear’s concerns. De Wever isn’t convinced. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are meeting with the Belgian premier this evening to try bring him on board.

HOW BELGIUM BECAME RUSSIA’S MOST VALUABLE ASSET Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever is unmoved in his opposition to a raid on Moscow’s funds held in a Brussels bank for a loan to Ukraine.  By TIM ROSS, GREGORIO SORGI, HANS VON DER BURCHARD and NICHOLAS VINOCUR in Brussels Illustration by Natália Delgado/POLITICO It became clear that something had gone wrong by the time the langoustines were served for lunch.  The European Union’s leaders arrived on Oct. 23 for a summit in rain-soaked Brussels to welcome Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a gift he sorely needed: a huge loan of some €140 billion backed by Russian assets frozen in a Belgian bank. It would be enough to keep his besieged country in the fight against Russia’s invading forces for at least the next two years.  The assorted prime ministers and presidents were so convinced by their plan for the loan that they were already arguing among themselves over how the money should be spent. France wanted Ukraine to buy weapons made in Europe. Finland, among others, argued that Zelenskyy should be free to procure whatever kit he needed from wherever he could find it.  But when the discussion broke up for lunch without agreement on raiding the Russian cash, reality dawned: Modest Belgium, a country of 12 million people, was not going to allow the so-called reparations loan to happen at all.  The fatal blow came from Bart De Wever. The bespectacled 54-year-old Belgian prime minister cuts an eccentric figure at the EU summit table, with his penchant for round-collared shirts, Roman history and witty one-liners. This time he was deadly serious, and dug in.  He told his peers that the risk of retaliation by the Russians for expropriating their sovereign assets was too great to contemplate. In the event that Moscow won a legal challenge against Belgium or Euroclear, the Brussels depository holding the assets, they would be on the hook to repay the entire amount, on their own. “That’s completely insane,” he said.  As afternoon stretched into evening, and dinner came and went, De Wever demanded the summit’s final conclusions be rewritten, repeatedly, to remove any mention of using Moscow’s assets to send cash to Kyiv.   Bart De Wever attends the European Council summit, in Brussels, Belgium, on Oct. 23, 2025. | Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images The Belgian blockade knocked the wind out of Ukraine’s European alliance at a critical moment. If the leaders had agreed to move ahead at speed with the loan plan at the October summit, it would have sent a powerful signal to Vladimir Putin about Ukraine’s long-term strength and Europe’s robust commitment to defend itself. Instead, Zelenskyy and Europe were weakened by the divisions when Donald Trump, still hoping for a Nobel Peace Prize, reopened his push for peace talks with Putin allies. The situation in Brussels remains stuck, even with the outcome of the almost-four-year-long war approaching a pivotal moment. Ukraine is sliding closer toward the financial precipice, Trump wants Zelenskyy to sign a lopsided deal with Putin — triggering alarm across Europe — and yet De Wever is still saying no. “The Russians must be having the best time,” said one EU official close to negotiations. The bloc’s leaders still aim to agree on a final plan for how to stop Ukraine running out of money when they meet for their next regular Brussels summit on Dec. 18.  But as the clock ticks down, one key problem remains: Can the EU’s most senior officials — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, the president of the European Council — persuade De Wever to change his mind? So far the signs are not good. “I’m not impressed yet, let me put it that way,” De Wever said in televised remarks as the Commission released its draft legal texts on Wednesday. “We are not going to put risks involving hundreds of billions … on Belgian shoulders. Not today, not tomorrow, never.” In interviews, more than 20 officials, politicians and diplomats, many speaking privately to discuss sensitive matters, described to POLITICO how European attempts to fund the defense of Ukraine descended into disarray and paralysis, snagged on political dysfunction and personality clashes at the highest levels. The potential consequences for Europe — as Trump seeks to force a peace treaty on Ukraine — could hardly be more severe. SPOOKING THE HORSES  According to several of those close to the discussions, the reparations loan proposal started to hit trouble when tension began to build between De Wever and his neighbor, the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. A Flemish nationalist, De Wever came to power just this past February after months of tortuous coalition negotiations — a classic scenario in Belgian politics. Three weeks later, Germany voted in a national election to hand Merz, a center-right conservative, the leadership of Europe’s most powerful economy.  Like De Wever, Merz can be impulsive in a way that is liable to unsettle allies. “He shoots from the hip,” one Western diplomat said. On the night he won, he called on Europe to work for full “independence” from the United States and warned NATO it may soon be history.  Amid delays and continuing failure to agree on a way forward, bad-tempered briefings have been aimed at Bart De Wever, and increasingly at Ursula von der Leyen, too, in recent weeks. | Nicolas Tucat/Getty Images In September, the German chancellor stuck his neck out again. It was time, he said, for Europe to raid its bank vaults in order to exploit immobilized Russian assets to help Ukraine. With his outburst, Merz apparently spooked the Belgians, who were at the time in sensitive private talks with EU officials trying to iron out their worries. Several officials said Merz went rogue in putting the policy into the public domain so forcefully and so early — before De Wever had signed up.  Five days later, von der Leyen discussed it herself, though she was careful to try to reassure anyone who might have concerns: “There is no seizing of the assets.” Instead, she argued, the assets would just be used to provide a sort of advance payment from Moscow for war reparations it would inevitably owe. The money would only be returned to Russia in the unlikely event that the Kremlin agreed to compensate Kyiv for the destruction in Ukraine.  The idea gained rapid momentum. “It’s important to move forward in the process because it’s about making sure that there is funding to meet the budgetary and military needs for Ukraine, and it’s also a moral issue about making Russia pay for the damage that it has caused,” Jessica Rosencrantz, Sweden’s EU affairs minister, told POLITICO. “In that sense, using the frozen Russian assets is the logical and moral choice to make.” THE SPIDER’S WEB  Most of the work of a European Council summit is already done long before the bloc’s leaders arrive at the futuristic “space egg” Europa building for handshakes and photos. Ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 member countries gather to discuss what the summit will achieve — and to thrash out the precise wording of the plans — during the weeks leading up to each meeting.  Ahead of the October summit, Belgium’s ambassador to the EU, Peter Moors, had been sending signals to his colleagues that making progress on plans to use Russia’s frozen assets would be fine. The problem, according to four officials familiar with the matter, was that Moors wasn’t speaking directly to De Wever, and all the decisions about Russian assets rested with the prime minister.  While others inside the Belgian government knew that the prime minister was implacably opposed to ransacking Euroclear, one of his country’s most valuable and important financial institutions, the diplomat negotiating the summit deal a few hundred meters up the road apparently did not.  That meant nobody in the EU machinery really understood just how serious De Wever’s opposition was going to be until he arrived on summit day with steam coming out of his ears.  Moors is well respected among his peers and within the Belgian government. He is seen as effective, experienced and competent, having had a long career in diplomacy and politics. Before he took on the role of ambassador to the EU, he was known as the “spider in the web” of Belgian foreign policy.  Several officials said Friedrich Merz went rogue in putting the policy into the public domain so forcefully and so early — before Bart De Wever had signed up. | Tobias Schwartz/Getty Images The trouble, it seems, may have been political. He was the chief of staff to De Wever’s rival and predecessor as prime minister, Alexander De Croo, and comes from a party that lost power in last year’s election and now serves in opposition. It’s hardly uncommon in politics for such distinctions to affect who gets left out of the loop.  The other complicating factor was Belgium’s political dysfunction. As De Wever himself put it, he had been locked in negotiations with his compatriots trying to agree a national budget for weeks with no deal in sight.  “I’ve been negotiating for weeks to find €10 billion,” De Wever said on the way into the EU summit. A scenario in which Belgium would have to repay Russia more than 10 times that amount would therefore be unthinkable, he added.  As the summit broke up with only a vague agreement for leaders to look again at financing Ukraine, officials were left scratching their heads and wondering what had gone wrong.  AMERICA FIRST   The question of what to do with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian assets locked in Western accounts had been hanging over Ukraine’s allies since the funds were sanctioned at the start of the war in February 2022. Now, though, it’s not just the Europeans who have their eyes on the cash.  The American side has quietly but firmly let Brussels know they have their own plans for the funds. When EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan traveled to Washington during the summer, U.S. officials told him bluntly they wanted to hand the assets back to Russia once a peace deal was done, according to two senior diplomats.  Trump is increasingly impatient for Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a full peace treaty. True to their word, the Americans’ original 28-point blueprint for an agreement included proposals for unfreezing the Russian assets and using them for a joint Ukraine reconstruction effort, under which the U.S. would take 50 percent of the profits.  The concept provoked outrage in European capitals, where one shocked official suggested Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff should see “a psychiatrist.” If nothing else, Trump’s desire for a speedy deal with Putin — and his apparent designs for the frozen assets — lit a fire under the EU’s negotiations with De Wever.  WASTED TIME   Many EU governments are sympathetic toward the Belgian leader. Officials and politicians know just how difficult it is for any government to contemplate a step like this one, which could theoretically open them up to punishingly expensive legal action. De Wever is worried the stability of the euro itself could be undermined if a raid on Euroclear forced investors to think again about placing their assets in European banks.  In recent weeks, von der Leyen’s most senior aide, Björn Seibert, among others, invested time in trying to understand Belgium’s objections and to find creative ways to overcome them. Moors and other ambassadors have discussed the issues endlessly, during their regular meetings with each other and the Commission.  But as the nights draw in, the mood is darkening. Amid delays and continuing failure to agree on a way forward, bad-tempered briefings have been aimed at De Wever, and increasingly also at von der Leyen in recent weeks. She has held off the decisive step of publishing the draft legal texts that would enable the assets to be used for the reparations loan. These documents are what all sides need to enact, alter or reject the plan. “We have wasted a lot of time,” Jonatan Vseviov, secretary-general of the Estonian foreign ministry, told POLITICO. “Our focus has been solely on the Commission president, asking her to present the proposal. Nobody else can table the proposal.” He said it would have been “better” if the Commission had produced the legal texts setting out the details of the loan earlier than Wednesday, when they were eventually released. “We have wasted a lot of time,” Jonatan Vseviov, secretary-general of the Estonian foreign ministry, told POLITICO. | Ali Balikci/Getty Images “We all have a responsibility” to speed up now, another diplomat said, while a third noted that even Belgium had been imploring the Commission to publish the legal plans in recent weeks. An EU official said everyone should calm down and noted that De Wever still needed to get off his ledge. Another diplomat said Belgium “cannot expect all their wishes to be granted in full.” WINTER IS HERE Merz is particularly agitated. He worries that it will be his country’s taxpayers who have to step in unless the assets loan goes ahead. “I see the need to do this as increasingly urgent,” the German leader told reporters on Friday. “Ukraine needs our support. Russian attacks are intensifying. Winter is approaching — or rather, we are already in winter.” De Wever, in the words of one diplomat, is still “pleading” for other options to remain in play. Two alternative ideas are in the air. The first would ask EU national governments to dig into their own coffers to send cash grants to Kyiv, a prospect most involved think is unrealistic given the parlous state of the budgets of many European nations.  The other idea is to fund a loan to Kyiv via joint EU borrowing, something frugal countries dislike because it would pile up debt to be repaid by future generations of taxpayers. “We are not keen on that,” one diplomat said. “The principle of saying Russia needs to pay for the damage is right.”  Some combination of these ideas might be inevitable, especially if the reparations loan is not finalized in time to meet Ukraine’s funding needs. In that case, a bridging loan will be required as an emergency “plan B”.  In a letter to von der Leyen on Nov. 27, De Wever underlined his opposition, describing the reparations loan proposal as “fundamentally wrong.”  “I am fully cognizant of the need to find ways to continue financial support to Ukraine,” De Wever wrote in his letter to von der Leyen. “My point has always been that there are alternative ways to put our money where our mouth is. When we talk about having skin in the game, we have to accept that it will be our skin in the game.”  “Who would advise the prime minister to write such a letter?” one exasperated diplomat said, dismayed at De Wever’s apparent insensitivity. “He talks about having ‘skin in the game.’ What about Ukraine?” RUSSIAN DRONES  Despite frustrating his allies, De Wever still has support from within his own government for the hard-line stance he’s taking. His position has been reinforced by Euroclear itself, which issued its own warnings. In a sign of how critical the subject is for Belgium, Euroclear’s bosses deal directly with De Wever’s office, bypassing the finance ministry.  Some also fear the threat to Belgium’s physical security. Mysterious drones disrupted air traffic at Brussels Airport last month and were spotted over Belgian military bases, suspected of spying on fighter jets and ammunition stores. The concern is that they may be part of Putin’s hybrid assault on Europe, and that Belgium would be at heightened risk if De Wever approved the use of Moscow’s assets.  Another major hurdle to progress on the loan is Hungary. Russia’s assets are only frozen because all the EU’s leaders — including Putin’s friend Viktor Orbán — have agreed every six months to extend the sanctions immobilizing the funds. Should Orbán change his mind, Russia could suddenly be free to lay claim to those assets again, putting Belgium in trouble.  In the end, the task may just be too big even for the Commission’s highly qualified lawyers. It’s far from certain that a legal fix even exists that could duck Hungary’s veto and Russian retaliation, keep Belgium happy, and avoid the need for European taxpayer money to be committed up front.  Mysterious drones disrupted air traffic at Brussels Airport last month and were spotted over Belgian military bases, suspected of spying on fighter jets and ammunition stores. | Nicolas Tucat/Getty Images As the next crunch European Council summit on Dec. 18 gets closer, European officials are feeling the pressure. “This is not an accounting exercise,” Estonia’s Vseviov said. “We are preparing the most consequential of all European Councils … We are trying to ensure that Europe gets a seat at the table where history is being made.” For the EU, one essential question remains — and it’s one that is always there, in every crisis that crosses the desks of the diplomats and officials working in Brussels: Can a union of 27 diverse, fractious, complex countries, each with its own domestic struggles, political rivalries and ambitious leaders, unite to meet the moment when it truly matters?  In the words of one diplomat, “It’s anyone’s guess.” Jacopo Barigazzi, Camille Gijs, Bjarke Smith-Meyer and Hanne Cokelaere contributed to this report.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Wednesday invoked Greek mythological hero Hercules as he celebrated striking a long-awaited budget deal. “We aren’t exactly on Mount Olympus yet in this country and I’m not standing here with a divine feeling … But at least the government has the courage to climb the path of Arete,” De Wever told lawmakers in the Belgian parliament. “We did not opt for laziness, but for the Herculean task of a multi-year budget.”  According to the ancient Greek tale known as The Choice of Hercules, the young man is approached by two figures. Kakia (vice) offers him a life of ease and pleasure, while Arete (virtue) promises a more demanding path of discipline and hardship, but one that leads to true honor and lasting glory. Belgium’s contentious budget talks were deadlocked for months as coalition parties haggled over a multi-year strategy to plug a €9.2 billion budget gap by 2029. They finally struck a deal Monday on the budget and related reforms, which helped avoid a government collapse. Ditching the Greek classics, De Wever opted for a more modern metaphor as he summarized his relief at finalizing the accord: “The exercise was anything but easy. After all, the low-hanging fruit has long since been picked away.” Attention now turns to the EU effort to pressure the unwavering De Wever into unfreezing the €140 billion in Russian assets held in Belgium that the bloc wants to use to help fund Ukraine’s war effort. Call it The Odyssey.

BRUSSELS — Belgium’s coalition agreed a budget deal early Monday that will see Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s government avoid collapse. The center-right government, led by Flemish separatist De Wever, struck a multi-year deal to plug a €9.2 billion budget gap by 2029 after months of disagreement. De Wever had set a Christmas deadline after talks appeared to reach a deadlock earlier this month. “Today the labor, tomorrow the fruit,” De Wever said in a post on X, adding that the deal and other reforms would improve Belgium’s debt position by €32 billion. Belgium’s deficit has reached 5.4 percent of GDP this year, while public debt stands at 104.7 percent of GDP. Last week, the European Commission warned that, in case of unchanged policy, Belgium’s deficit could reach 5.9 percent by 2027, with only Poland performing worse in the EU. The government hiked excise duties on natural gas, while certain recreational products, such as hotel stays and takeaway food, will become more expensive. Taxes on flight tickets are also increased, from €5 to €10. There won’t be a general hike in value-added tax, however, as the Francophone liberal MR party resisted that measure. Belgium also tweaked its wage-indexing method, whereby salaries increase linked to inflation, with the changes affecting high earners. The government also committed to putting 100,000 people who are currently on sick leave back to work. It also introduced a €2 tax on packages from non-European webshops, such as Chinese e-commerce platform Shein. De Wever’s administration secured the deal at the start of a three-day general strike that is affecting public transport, public services and schools.