By BRUSSELS. Dec 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A historic meeting of the European Council will be held in Brussels, during which the leaders of the European Union will have to decide whether or not to give the green light to the start of membership negotiations with Ukraine, as well as resolve the issue of further financial and military support for Kyiv, which is opposed Russian aggression.
The Ukrainian issue is first on the agenda of the summit, which will begin at 10.00 (Brussels time) on Thursday.
Discussions at the summit are expected to be difficult and lengthy.
Regarding the political decision to begin membership negotiations, the vast majority – 26 EU member states – are in favor and only Hungary is against. Thus, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban, in a letter sent earlier to President of the European Council Charles Michel, demanded not to put the Ukrainian issue on the agenda and insisted on reviewing the EU policy towards Ukraine as a whole. If Orban’s position does not change, EU leaders will not be able to give the green light to the start of negotiations, since, in accordance with EU rules, decisions related to enlargement must be made unanimously.
On Wednesday, ahead of the summit, Council President Michel acknowledged that the meeting would be “difficult” and said he was working “day and night to meet positive decisions” as the issue was extremely important for the future of the European Union.
Earlier, in his summit invitation letter to EU leaders, Michel called on them to take “bold decisions.” “We need to live up to our commitments on Ukraine and continue to be a reliable and strong partner. We must provide Ukraine with continued and sustainable political, financial and military support and, in particular, come to an agreement on providing EUR 50 BN for its long term stability. We also have to agree to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, thereby giving it a necessary signal and bringing it yet closer to our European family,” the President of the European Council said.
Another important issue for Ukraine, funding in the amount of EUR 50 billion for the period from 2024 to 2027, which was also blocked by Hungary, can be considered positively: the day before, the European Commission, having positively assessed the actions of Budapest in terms of fulfilling conditions related to the rule of law, unfrozen Hungary about EUR 10 billion.
Another issue on the agenda is the allocation of additional funding from the European Peace Facility worth EUR 20 billion to continue military assistance to Kyiv.
As for the approval by EU 12 leaders of a package of sanctions for Russia, it is being finalized and is expected to be approved before Friday.
