BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen will meet Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever on Friday to try and unblock talks on using frozen Russian state assets to fund a critical loan to Ukraine, a Commission spokesperson and two other people with knowledge of the meeting told POLITICO.

After weeks of deadlock, the Commission president will try to personally convince De Wever to drop Belgium’s opposition to the EU executive’s plan to fund the €140 billion loan.

De Wever is opposing the initiative because the bulk of the Russian assets are held by the Brussels-based financial firm Euroclear, exposing Belgium to legal and financial risks.

The bilateral between von der Leyen and De Wever, planned for early afternoon, follows a preparatory meeting between top officials from the European Commission and the Belgian government last Friday.

In order to give his approval to the financial operation, De Wever requested firm guarantees that EU countries will jointly repay the full loan if the state assets are handed back to Russia in the coming years.

Belgium has lingering concerns that the Kremlin will challenge the EU’s decision in court and that Brussels will face mounting pressure to return the assets to Russia at the end of the war.

The EU is under intense pressure to agree to the loan, which would provide a major relief to the country’s war-battered economy, before Ukraine faces a cash crunch next spring.

In a speech on Thursday, von der Leyen said that using the frozen Russian assets “is the most effective way to sustain Ukraine’s defense and its economy.”

If the plan does not come to fruition, she suggested issuing common EU debt or tasking each country to individually fund Ukraine through their national budgets.

Both alternatives, however, are unpalatable for highly indebted countries such as France and Italy, which have little means to finance Ukraine.

Von der Leyen’s tête-à-tête with De Wever comes after the Danish EU presidency formally requested the Commission to pursue the reparations loan, while addressing the Belgian’s concerns in parallel.