00:00Do you think the European Union and all EU member states are completely aligned when it comes to supporting Ukraine?
00:06Or do you think there's been some element of battle fatigue in some countries?
00:11Yeah, what I have seen over the last year is that there has been a divergence.
00:16So you have some countries that have been willing and able to step up their efforts and to speed up their efforts.
00:23Because, of course, we all know that the United States is providing less support.
00:27So they now make their stocks available, but European countries need to take the lead to spend money for it.
00:36So other countries need to step in.
00:39And there were quite a few countries that are willing to do that.
00:42Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, also the UK, the Baltic states.
00:48It's basically the north of Europe.
00:50But if you look at the countries more to the south and the southeast of Europe,
00:54you do see that they are not spending the same level and that they are not delivering the same level of aid.
01:03And it is a problem because it's not only those countries in northern Europe that are able to provide the total package of support that Ukraine needs every day.
01:13Okay. And you are an advocate of some of Russia's frozen assets in European banks being used in what you've described as a creative way.
01:23What does that creativity mean?
01:25What I mean is that those frozen assets can maybe not be used directly in the sense that you take the money and you give it to Ukraine.
01:34You need to come up with mechanisms that are legally possible and that are also supported by not only the EU, but basically the G7.
01:42And in which also the risks that are involved are mutualized because Belgium, for example, has a relatively large degree of risk because over 100 billion of the frozen assets are inside Belgium.
01:55And I do think that we need to use those frozen assets because of the reason we just just discussed.
02:02I do see that Ukraine needs a robust level of support.
02:07And the only way that we can fund that is to make sure that we use those frozen assets.
02:12Because we need to change the calculus of Russia and of Putin, because now he thinks, you know,
02:18if I continue to fight for three months or half a year, then he thinks he will be in a better position.
02:22So he keeps fighting and not instead of negotiating.
02:26I think the only way to change that calculus is on the one hand that we can show that Ukraine is not only receiving support today and tomorrow,
02:35but in the next two to three years.
02:37And on the other hand, we increase pressure on Russia by more sanctions, by a better enforcement of sanctions and also supporting Ukraine with deep strike capabilities.
02:45So if Putin feels that in the next two to three years there is robust support to Ukraine and the pressure on him economically is only going to increase by sanctions and by deep strikes,
02:56then maybe his calculus will change.
02:58I think that's the only way to push him towards the negotiation table.
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