One of the EU’s most vocal opponents of seizing Russian assets may be leaving office. Belgium’s prime minister has offered to resign over a budget dispute.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has submitted his resignation to King Philippe, according to The Brussels Times and Belgium’s Royal Palace.De Wever became prime minister in February 2025. He decided to step down after talks on the 2027 budget collapsed and one-on-one meetings with his ministers over the weekend failed to resolve the impasse. The Royal Palace has yet to accept his resignation and will consult with the leaders of the parties in the governing coalition.If the king accepts De Wever’s resignation, new elections could be called, The Brussels Times reported. Another possibility is to form a new government without holding elections — based on the balance of power established by the previous election.King Philippe will meet with the prime minister again on November 6.The Belgian securities depository Euroclear holds the bulk of Russia’s central bank assets frozen in 2022 at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — about 190 billion euros. The European Union wanted to use this money for a “reparations loan” to Ukraine, but De Wever was one of the strongest opponents of seizing the assets. He feared the financial risks and asked other countries for legal guarantees that they would share those risks with Belgium.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.