Belgium will give the nod for the Commission to put forward a legal proposal outlining the €140 billion Ukraine loan.

EU leaders are set to instruct the European Commission to design a legal proposal to use billions of euros in Russian frozen state assets to fund a massive loan to Ukraine, after Belgium signaled it would not stand in the way.

The controversial proposal, if adopted, could release up to €140 billion to fund Ukraine’s war effort for another two to three years, using Russian state assets that were immobilized after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The European Commission, which has executive power in the EU, first floated the idea in September, but has been waiting for the explicit blessing of European heads of state and government before it moves ahead with a concrete proposal. This is likely to come when the 27 EU leaders hold their quarterly European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.