Two months ago, I proposed providing Ukraine with a comprehensive multi-year financial guarantee. This idea isn’t merely a budgetary exercise. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents the gravest shock to Europe’s post-war order since the Second World War and we can already feel its consequences today. To protect our freedom, we are undertaking major financial efforts and we are making far-reaching decisions, including in the area of military conscription.

An imperialist Russia is seeking to extend its sphere of influence far beyond its own territory, deep into the European states. No one can seriously deny any longer that the Russian leadership is prepared to use the full range of hybrid threats and instruments of destabilisation—and that the country is already deploying them against us. Moscow is preparing itself militarily, and its society militaristically, for a conflict with the West.

A Russia of this nature threatens European freedom and security. It also threatens our partners in Eastern Europe, who only have won their freedom and sovereignty a little over three decades ago. Every single conversation with the governments of the Baltic states confirms this assessment. The Polish government, which visited Berlin this week for German-Polish intergovernmental consultations, has been reporting daily Russian incursions.

Solidarity with our Eastern European neighbours is not only our obligation that has arisen from our own history—it is also in our fundamental self-interest. Europe’s ability to act independently is being tested now, at a moment when our security interests are under direct threat. Whether we rise to meet this challenge will define our future.

The European Commission has now presented its concrete proposal for mobilising more than 165 billion euros in additional funding for Ukraine. These funds would be sufficient to cover Ukraine’s financial and military needs for at least the next two years—and for significantly longer if further G7 partners join the effort. It is therefore within our power not only to strengthen Ukraine but also to send an unequivocal signal to Moscow that continuing this war of aggression is futile. This is not a sign toward prolonging the conflict, but a sign to end it. It shows Europe’s capacity to act—a demonstration that we Europeans are in charge of deciding and shaping what happens on our continent.

To send this sign, we must make use of the immobilised Russian assets.

The path proposed by the European Commission now enables us to do this in full accordance with international law and our international obligations. We Europeans have jointly decided that the assets of the Russian Central Bank will remain frozen until Russia compensates Ukraine for the damage it has caused. That is precisely how we intend to proceed. We are not confiscating these assets, nor are we touching Russia’s legal claims.

At the last European Council, I emphasised that all financial risks arising from this step must be shared collectively. “Collectively” means that each member state would shoulder an equal share of the risk relative to its economic capacity. We must first agree on this principle politically, and then implement it through legally binding provisions. It would be unacceptable for any single country to bear a disproportionate burden. I fully understand, in particular, the concerns of the Belgian government, given that the majority of the frozen assets are held there and that Brussels cannot rely solely on political assurances. These concerns must be addressed in the forthcoming discussions on the legal texts. Those discussions must begin immediately and conclude swiftly.

But for this to happen, we need a political signal from Europe’s heads of state and government: it is up to us to advance the cause of European sovereignty.

If we are serious about this, we cannot leave it to non-European states to decide what happens to the financial resources of an aggressor state that have been lawfully frozen within the jurisdiction of our own rule-of-law and in our own currency. The decisions we make now will shape Europe’s future.