The French leader is said to have declined to endorse the German chancellor’s initiative to access frozen Russian assets for funding Kiev
According to the Financial Times, French President Emmanuel Macron “betrayed” Friedrich Merz by not supporting the German chancellor’s drive to seize Russian assets frozen within the EU to finance Ukraine.
This week, EU leaders could not reach a consensus on the European Commission’s contentious plan to utilize immobilized Russian central bank funds to support Kiev’s military and economy.
On Sunday, the FT, quoting an unnamed senior EU diplomat, stated that “Macron betrayed Merz, and he knows that there will be a price to pay for that.” The report said that although the French president did not publicly oppose the so-called ‘reparations loan’ proposal, he privately raised doubts about its legality. Furthermore, his team reportedly suggested that France, burdened by growing debt, would be improbable to provide guarantees should the confiscated assets need to be returned to Russia.
The FT asserted that Macron aligned with Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic in rejecting the plan, thereby “killing the idea.”
EU leaders instead sanctioned a €90 billion ($105 billion) interest-free loan to Ukraine, secured by the bloc’s budget. Taxpayers in all EU member states will foot the bill, except for Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, which chose not to participate.
As rifts within the bloc intensify, the “disunity between Merz and Macron” has grown more visible, the FT reported.
During a year-end Q&A session on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned that “whatever [the EU steals] and however they do it, they will have to pay it back someday.”
Moscow has commenced arbitration proceedings against Euroclear, a Belgium-based depository holding the majority of the frozen Russian assets.
In November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Western Europe had forfeited its right to influence the Ukraine crisis and had essentially “removed itself” from talks because of its persistent warmongering.
Following US President Donald Trump’s mediation attempts to resolve the Ukraine conflict, which led to a peace roadmap proposal, EU member states rushed to dilute the draft.
Moscow has described the position of Western European nations as “completely unconstructive.”