Malta and Bulgaria, in addition to Italy, also join Belgium in urging the Commission to explore alternative "less risky" solutions to support Ukraine.
What is being referred to is the Commission's alternative proposal where a large loan would be given to Ukraine with the EU budget as collateral. But that proposal requires consensus among the member states.
According to Politico, the four countries cannot block the basic proposal, even with the support of pro-Russian Hungary and Slovakia. But the resistance is a setback for the Commission, which had hoped to reach a broad political agreement at the EU summit next week.
The lion's share of Russian assets, totaling 210 billion euros, are in Belgium. Their cold feet are based on a fear of facing future claims for damages from Russia.
