EU has a plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine – how will it work?

What are the legal implications, and why does Belgium fear being left alone with the bill?

The European Commission has proposed providing Ukraine with 90bn in funding over two years, which it says will meet two-thirds of Kyiv's financing needs for 2026 and 2027 and allow it to engage in peace talks from a position of strength".

There are two options for generating the money. It could be a reparations loan" based on Russian assets frozen in the bloc, the option favoured by the commission but strongly resisted by Belgium, which hosts most of the assets.