L’UE intende trattare il Belgio come l’Ungheria se non sosterrà il prestito all’Ucraina

Europe’s strategy for convincing the Belgians to support its plan to fund Ukraine? Warn them they could be treated like Hungary.

A week before leaders meet, the EU is turning the screws. If De Wever continues to block the plan ― a path he’s been on for several months, putting forward additional conditions and demands ― he will find himself in an uncomfortable and remarkable position for the leader of a country that for so long has been pro-EU, according to an EU diplomat with knowledge of the discussions taking place.

The Belgium leader would be frozen out and ignored, just like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán has been given the cold shoulder over democratic backsliding and his refusal to play ball on sanctioning Russia.

The message to Belgium is that if it does not come on board, its diplomats, ministers and leaders will lose their voice around the EU table. Officials would put to the bottom of the pile Belgium’s wishlist and concerns related to the EU’s long-term budget for 2028–2034, which would cause the government a major headache, particularly when negotiations get into the crucial final stretch in 18 months’ time.

Its views on EU proposals will not be sought. Its phone calls will go unanswered, the diplomat said.

>”Solidarity is a two-way street,” a diplomat said.

Ironic

This has crushed any dreams of a federal Europe working anytime soon, the big guys have absolute no moral qualms throwing a small country under the bus for their own benefit. And the other small countries are just happy it’s not them getting tossed aside.

Al die mooie woorden, over samenwerking en eenheid. Maar als de as Berlijn-Parijs zijn zin niet krijgt is het buigen of breken? En dan nog ten opzichte van een van de stichtende leden die zich 70 jaar loyaal heeft opgesteld in een dossier waar er terechte bezorgdheden zijn. De EU laat zich hier van zijn slechtste en zwakste kant zien.

BDW uses Orban’s rethoric so he should be treated as such. There are much better ways to discuss this topic he failed us, Europe and Ukraine.

This all feels like a very bad move from the EU and disjuncted from reality.

Other smaller countries will take note how they can be bullied and thrown under the bus.

The EU is physically located in Brussels. Wouldn’t it be a shame if Belgian police would pay special attention to EU corruption, traffic, …

Do you really believe POLITICO comments?

Guys, stop taking politico “articles” at face value… they severely overexaggerate and missrepresent everything for clicks…

Also everything in this article is based on ” a EU diplomat with knowledge of the discussions taking place ”

So do take this with a grain of salt…

And just like that I get why the uk wanted to leave.

When both Commision and parliament are in Brussels, dream on. Back to the guarantees or fck off.

Is Politico taking money from foreign governments? Sound like they just want to sow division

Just make members back the loan according to their GDP. Seems fair to me?

De Wever’s fellow EU leaders could band together and pass the “reparation loan” plan via so-called qualified majority voting, ignoring Belgium’s rejections and just steamrollering it through.

Wow, do this and kiss goodbye any future EU bond sales. Meanwhile support for Ukraine is falling off the cliff, Zelensky is not going to get what he is asking for and EU needs to draw a line where they stop funding.

And today I discover that some belgians just learned that NVA is eurosceptic ?
De Weber has always been one.

It’s getting quite absurd.

Loaning money instead of using frozen assets at Euroclear feels like the better solution. If we want to support Ukraine, let’s do it right. And keep the Russian assets at Euroclear as a strategical leverage in peace negotiations.

But right, there’s Hungarussia, and they veto that. And I guess others are happy with that, nobody really wants to use their national budget.

On the other hand, the frozen assets at Euroclear are sitting there. But the one who’s at mainly at risk has, Belgium, has no real veto right. Correct? And how are we gonna get backed if all of this goes sideways if it’s very clear that nation-states don’t want to commit to waterproof backing?

Basically, they want to throw us under the bus, and when we ask them for protective armor and guaranteed medical services, they blame us for doing so threaten to put is in the same corner as Hungary.

This is not the way to further support Ukraine, or further strengthening the EU. This is a downward spiral into collapse.