German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen kept up the pressure on Belgium Friday to accede to a European Union plan to use Russian central bank assets frozen in Belgium to fund Ukraine.
Friedrich Merz, Germany's chancellor, during a news conference with Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The Polish and German cabinets are holding intergovernmental consultations.