The European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. The 27 have assured Georgia candidate status and the EU will begin negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the required level of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved. The President of the Council, Charles Michelhas asked the Commission to report on the process in March in order to take a decision.
The leaders of the Twenty-Seven are meeting in the municipal capital for the final summit of the year, with support for Ukraine a central theme, and it appeared that the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor OrbanHe would be the villain of the meeting. But in a surprise move, the Hungarian president overturned his veto on Ukraine’s accession, even though he had assured when entering the meeting that the country had been invaded Wladimir Putin did not meet the necessary conditions, according to the report published by the European Commission in November last year.
It was later revealed that the Hungarian president resorted to a legal but controversial diplomatic pirouette as he decided to leave the room while the rest of European leaders wanted to support the summit’s conclusions by consensus. In this way, Orbán managed to save the furniture from its original location. Diplomatic sources explain that this absence was agreed “constructively” with the other leaders.
Everything indicates that the small meetings between Orbán and other heads of state and government before the start of the summit served to find this solution. According to diplomatic sources, the legal basis of this agreement is that it was a decision of the European Council “which was not blocked by any of its members.”
But no one doubts that Orbán will reap political benefits from this strategy, especially with regard to his electorate. “Starting accession negotiations with Ukraine is a bad decision. “Hungary did not take part in the decision,” the president said on social media. According to diplomatic sources, the question remains whether Orbán will throw a spanner in the works again if further steps have to be taken in the negotiations and decisions are made not by consensus but by unanimity, as required by Parliament’s approval of the negotiating framework. Despite the symbolism of the political gesture, talks about Ukraine joining the EU could now drag on for years. The path seems rocky.
“The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. The Council has granted candidate status to Georgia and the EU will start negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary level of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved, calling on the Commission to report in March to take a decision. “A clear sign of hope for its people and for our continent,” Council President Charles Michel said on social media. Shortly afterwards, he repeated very similar words in an impromptu appearance before the press.
“A strategic decision and a day that will go down in the history of our Union.” “We are proud to have kept our promises and are happy about our partners,” said the President of the European Commission. Ursula von der Leyen. “A victory for all of Europe,” cheered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Orbán came to the Community capital with a double veto: that of joining Ukraine and that of supporting the country invaded by Russia with an instrument of 50 billion euros for the next four years. Although this last element has several aspects, since this economic aid is part of the budget review that also includes other items, and the countries that favor budget orthodoxy want to scratch their pockets as little as possible.
Regarding funding, Orbán has also denied that greenlighting the plan for Ukraine is dependent on the release of European aid, which the country has not released due to a lack of respect for the rule of law. This Wednesday, the Commission decided to release 10.2 billion euros, but made the rest (30 billion in total) conditional on the country continuing with the upcoming reforms. Although the main political advisor, Balazs OrbánWhile the Hungarian prime minister had assured that support to Ukraine was conditional on the full disbursement of aid, he rejected this idea.
In principle, the European Commission has proposed additional funding of 66 billion euros to European countries to cover not only aid to Ukraine, but also other issues such as migration and asylum policies. Faced with the refusal not only of Hungary but also of the Club of Frugal Countries, Council President Charles Michel presented this Thursday a new proposal to reduce this bill to 22.5 billion euros.
Orbán had also defended that Kiev’s financing needs were met in the short term, although recent calculations indicate that the country could only survive until March to avoid bankruptcy.
According to diplomatic sources, there are possibilities for an agreement, so the additional financing is between 20 and 22 billion euros and the strategy of the remaining partners is to try to reach an agreement without Hungary and then offer it a pact. After the white smoke for accession, European leaders have held a new meeting on the budget after the so-called Sherpas, the technicians who operate in the shadows, outlined the latest proposal.