Belgian Whine

Belgium is the latest weak link in the EU chain

(A headline from today’s Het Laatste Nieuws, based in Antwerp, showing Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever. The headline reads: ‘“The three ‘friends of Putin’ pay nothing, we pay extra, which could cause further division in the future”: experts warn after EU deal.’ By ‘three friends,’ Italy’s Salvini, Hungary’s Orban and Slovakia’s Fico are meant. Their countries are net recipients of EU funds. Belgium’s decision yesterday not to allow use of confiscated assets means European taxpayers will foot the bill for a €90 billion loan for Ukraine’s benefit.)

Russia is under pressure. Its army is struggling – despite strenuous and totally unconvincing presidential efforts to pretend otherwise. Energy revenues are down, as refineries and shadow tankers face direct strikes and new sanctions.

No issue is more terrifying to Moscow than the prospect of confiscated Russian assets going to Ukraine. To prevent this, the Kremlin has gone all-out to tie the hands of the government of Belgium, where they are mostly held, and depository Euroclear.

This week Belgium began to buckle.

Bart De Wever is a former mayor of Antwerp who became Belgian prime minister in early February. He is definitely no Russian stooge. De Wever condemned Moscow’s full-scale 2022 invasion, comparing Putin to Hitler. He has not courted Moscow’s support or money for his party, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA).