The EU agreed this Thursday to take a crucial step and open negotiations with Ukraine for its integration into the community club. The Twenty-seven have overcome the veto of Hungary and its prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who had flatly refused to start the historic process. Isolated by the rest of the leaders, the Hungarian ultraconservative has avoided voting and has left the room in which the other 26 leaders have given free rein to kyiv, which has been resisting Russian aggression for almost two years. “The decision shows the credibility and strength of the EU,” the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, told reporters during the summit of heads of state and government being held in Brussels. “We want to support Ukraine and this is a powerful political signal,” he added in a hasty appearance. With this leap forward – which, however, includes the nuance that kyiv will have to finalize some details of the required reforms before setting the negotiating framework – the most sensitive point of this European meeting is unlocked. When Russian President Vladimir Putin had boasted this Thursday that Western support was faltering, the EU has managed to close the cracks and maintain its commitment.
“This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe,” the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, celebrated on social networks minutes after the decision was made public. In fact, the EU's decision, although very symbolic, because the road is long, is the only victory for months in Ukraine, where the war is almost entrenched in the face of Russia's castled defenses and where the citizens' fatigue, despite to resistance, it is clear.
This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens. https://t.co/zk44CeL5Ui
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 14, 2023
Hours before it was adopted, Zelensky had solemnly appealed to EU leaders. “Today I ask you one thing: do not betray the people [ucranio] and his faith in Europe,” Zelensky had urged, shortly before the decision, in a videoconference speech before the summit. “Today is a special day. And this day will go down in history. Whether good or bad for us, history will capture it all. Every word, every step, every action and inaction. “Who fought for what,” he stressed. And he added: “It is very important that Europe does not fall into indecision again today. Nobody wants Europe to be seen as untrustworthy or incapable of making the decisions it prepared. “People in Europe will not understand if Putin's satisfied smile becomes the reward for a meeting in Brussels.” In addition to Ukraine, the EU also reaches out to the accession of Moldova, although it leaves Bosnia on hold until March.
The EU has thus agreed to open dialogue to bring these two countries on board, but will only adopt the framework of how to do so “once the relevant steps established in the Commission's recommendations have been adopted,” according to the draft conclusions of the summit. to which this newspaper has had access and which is now being handled by the legal service of the European Council. In November, in its report on Ukraine's progress on the path to the EU, the Community Executive recommended launching the accession dialogue but determined that there were still some issues to be met in three of the seven conditions to do so, as EL PAÍS reported.
The link to that report seems to have saved Orbán's resistance. The Hungarian ultraconservative—closer to Moscow than to Kiev—who has been insisting for weeks that Ukraine has not met all the requirements to begin a process based on merit, has once again insisted on it. “It is a completely senseless, irrational and wrong decision to start accession negotiations with Ukraine. “Hungary is not going to change its position because 26 other countries have insisted that it be taken,” he said. Budapest “has stayed away from the decision today,” he commented in a video published on his social networks. The vote on accession, which like everything linked to the expansion of the community club must be unanimous, is valid even though the Hungarian Prime Minister was not in the room. The creative choreography — another leader has suggested Orbán leave the room, according to diplomatic sources — is highly unusual.
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The Hungarian leader has finally opened his hand. And it has done so after an intense diplomatic offensive and the European Commission unfreezing, on Wednesday, 10.2 billion euros withheld for its violations of the rule of law that Brussels now considers partially restored through several reforms of its judicial system.
The decision made by the EU is not only about support for kyiv, but about the resistance of the EU in that support. Upon his arrival in Brussels, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte – probably in one of his last European Councils, after announcing his retirement from politics this summer and the November elections in which the extreme right won – had already defined the meeting. as “decisive.” “We have to show our commitment to Ukraine,” claimed Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. The summit had to clear up two “crucial” elements for Ukraine, according to Rutte and Kallas: the decision on starting the dialogue for its accession to the EU and an economic lifeline package for kyiv.
Once the enlargement aspect has been resolved, that other crucial element for Ukraine remains on the table: 50,000 million euros (33,000 in loans and 17,000 in subsidies) over four years that the technical teams are now negotiating. This amount would form part of a broader review of the multiannual financial framework (the EU's multi-year budget), which has other ingredients, such as a new chapter for immigration management or competitiveness. On the table, a proposal from Michel that includes the partners putting up just over 22,000 million euros, a third of what the European Commission demanded. Hungary is blocking it for now and other member states only support new funds for Ukraine, so the final approval is difficult but not impossible. The discussions are now technical.
The leaders are exploring, however, an alternative plan so that if this budget review does not go ahead, Ukraine does not leave empty-handed and provides it with those 50 billion or part of them with an off-budget package or through an agreement with the 26 Member States (all EU Member States except Hungary). Another option is to do it through bilateral loans. Orbán, who is experiencing his great moment of prominence in the EU, assured this Thursday that he is not opposed to an “extra-budgetary” package. “The most important thing we must decide here today and this weekend is that long-term financial support for Ukraine will come from the European Union,” concluded Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
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