It is a “victory for Ukraine” and “all of Europe”, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. If the leaders of the European Union failed on the night of Thursday to Friday, December 15, to convince Hungary to lift its veto on new aid of 50 billion euros in favor of Ukraine, they nevertheless succeeded more early to open accession negotiations with this country at war. “We welcome the EU’s historic decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, a crucial step towards achieving their Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” said on the social network Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
kyiv was waiting for a green light from European leaders, which seemed out of reach due to the stubborn refusal of Viktor Orban’s Hungary. But the Hungarian Prime Minister ultimately abstained, and the President of the European Council Charles Michel shared the EU’s positive decision on Thursday evening. After the announcement, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, thanking him for his “support”, as well as with Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili, whom he congratulated on obtaining candidate status for the EU.
Ukraine EU
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Discussions in early 2024 on aid to Ukraine
On the aid aspect, the leaders of the Twenty-Seven will resume their discussions “at the beginning of next year” on new EU budgetary support for theUkrainedeclared the President of the European Council Charles Michel on Friday, after the veto of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Hungary vetoed this package of 50 billion euros of loans and subsidies, which requires the unanimity of member states. “I don’t want to go too far into the details, I will work in the coming days and weeks with my colleagues to prepare a summit for the beginning of next year,” Charles Michel underlined to the press.