LAST: On Thursday evening, it became known that the EU opens membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. This was announced by EU President Charles Michel on Twitter/X.
This means that Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who for weeks has flatly refused to open membership negotiations with Ukraine, has made a complete U-turn.
Financial Times citing sources that the decision on Ukraine negotiations was made after Orban had left the room.
By leaving the room, he failed to block the decision, which he had the opportunity to do.
In a post on Facebook on Thursday evening, Orban nevertheless criticizes the EU decision and says that he stayed away from that matter.
– Ukraine’s EU membership is a bad decision. Hungary does not want to participate in this bad decision, he writes in the post.
The meeting causes a stir
– Historic day
Today’s summit is primarily about two things: Whether the EU should open the door to Ukraine and start membership negotiations, and whether the EU should set aside 50 billion for Ukraine in its new long-term budget.
Hungary is against both, the other EU countries are in favor.
The one vote is decisive, as both decisions require unanimity.
– A victory for Ukraine and the whole of Europe, says Zelenskyj about the EU decision.
A number of EU summits celebrate the decision and refer to it as a historic day.
Leaders have decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia.
A strategic decision and a day that will remain engraved in the history of our Union
Proud that we have lived up to our promises and delighted for our partners
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 14, 2023
Zelenskyi in Germany
In recent days, there has been a real sense of nervousness in Brussels. No matter what kind of pressure various EU leaders have put on Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he has refused to budge, writes NTB.
There has been tension over whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj would appear at the summit.
Instead, he appeared in Germany, but still gave a video speech to EU leaders.
– Has strong partners
In his speech, he asked EU leaders to think of all the soldiers fighting in trenches, rather than themselves, according to The Guardian.
– I am asking you for one thing today: Do not let down the people of Ukraine and their faith in Europe, Zelenskyj said on a video link to the EU summit on Thursday, writes Reuters.
Zelenskyj himself shared parts of the speech Twitter/X.
MAJOR DECISIONS: On Thursday, major questions about Ukraine will be decided at the EU summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with the EU for support. Photo: Yves Herman/ Reuters Show more
Here he writes that he emphasized that this day will go down in the history books.
– Today is the day when the decision will either be in Brussels or in Moscow, Zelensky writes.
– The European people will not show understanding if Putin’s satisfied smile is the price after today’s meeting in Brussels, he continues.
Closes the borders to Russia – again
Signal til Washington
If the EU does not succeed in reaching an agreement on Ukraine, it will be a serious scratch in the paint for the union – and a serious crack in its unity vis-à-vis Ukraine.
The EU has promised to stand firm with Ukraine as long as the war lasts.
– I work both day and night so that we can get a positive decision. It is true that this is a difficult summit, but I am not giving up, said EU President Charles Michel when he opened the summit with a separate meeting for the Western Balkans on Wednesday evening.
From the EU side, it is also emphasized that it is important to get through the support package for Ukraine in order to send a clear signal to Washington, where there is division in Congress about further American support.
Inside the EU, there has been intense lobbying in recent weeks to get Orban, who is considered to be Russia’s best friend in the EU, to turn around before the summit.
Several leaders have met him, and ahead of Thursday’s summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz made a last attempt, reports Reuters.
On Wednesday, the European Commission released just over 10 billion euros to Hungary, which has been withheld due to corruption and shortcomings in the Hungarian legal system.
The hope was that this would help appease Orban.
Facts about matters at the EU summit
These are the issues that the EU’s 27 leaders will discuss at the summit:
- Opening of membership negotiations with Ukraine. Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina are also in the pot. Many believe that a no to Ukraine will also mean a no to these two countries, but it is currently unclear what the outcome will be.
- Decision to accept Georgia as a candidate country for the EU.
- Decision to set aside a pot of 50 billion euros for Ukraine in the EU’s long-term budget. Of this, 17 billion are grants and 33 billion are loans. The money must be given over four years.
- Decision on the EU’s long-term budget for the years 2021–2027. The European Commission had initially proposed to increase the budget by 66 billion euros to just over 2,000 billion euros.
- Many EU countries have refused to agree to this. The proposed increase now appears to have been cut to 5.5 billion euros plus 17 billion to Ukraine.
- At the same time, the EU countries argue about how much money should go to various purposes, such as migration, competitiveness and measures to deal with climate and natural disasters.
- An open question in the budget negotiations is also how big the interest costs for the loan of 800 billion euros, which the EU took out during the corona pandemic, will be. The interest costs are currently estimated to be around 18–20 billion euros.
Source: NTB
Sea view
2023-12-14 18:33:45
#Left #room #Crazy #decision
