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.
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