White smoke in Brussels. European leaders have overcome Hungary’s threatened veto and have agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced by surprise this afternoon. The European Union has also granted candidate country status to Georgia and has agreed to open accession talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina as soon as it meets the pending criteria, which will be reassessed in March 2024, when talks are expected to open with Kyiv and Chisinau.
This is “a clear sign of hope for the people of these countries and for our continents,” Michel tweeted in the middle of the first working day of a summit, the last of the year, which this morning several leaders warned could last until at the weekend given the difficulties posed by the announced veto of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, both to the initiative to give the green light to the accession negotiations with Hungary and to the proposal to provide Kyiv with 50 billion euros in macro-financial aid from the EU budget. “This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky celebrated on social media, shortly after the historic decision was announced.
The progress has been achieved thanks to the fact that Orbán “has been temporarily absent” from the room at the request of a European leader at the request of the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who this morning had breakfast with the Hungarian leader, Michel, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, as diplomatic sources later specified. It has been done “constructively and agreed in advance,” they say in the European Council. It is not clear at the moment with what arguments, promises or concessions the Twenty-seven have overcome the Hungarian resistance but what there has been is “a decision of the European Council that has not been opposed” by any of its members, European diplomatic sources have explained. minutes after Michel announced the unexpected news. Although there are no precedents for a decision of such significance, “constructive abstention” is a figure included in Article 31 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Four months after the start of the Russian invasion, the European Union granted Ukraine the status of a candidate country for the club. The European Commission conditioned progress in the process on the adoption of reforms and, last November, concluded that Kyiv has made “impressive progress” and advised giving the green light to accession negotiations at the European Council in December, although the The talks themselves will not begin until March, when progress will be reviewed and the Twenty-Seven must approve their negotiating mandate, a decision that can only be adopted unanimously, like each step of the talks.
“We want to support Ukraine, this is a very important decision and political signal. We are with the Ukrainian people,” Michel explained in a brief and improvised press appearance in the atrium of the European Council, where hundreds of journalists from around the world to follow a summit that Kyiv has described as “existential” for its country. “This decision is extremely important for the credibility of the EU,” celebrated the President of the European Council. “We worked hard to prepare this meeting, it was important that no one opposed the decision and so we have been in a position to make this announcement tonight. We continue to work on the multiannual financial framework, it is a difficult debate but I am confident that in the coming hours we will be able to make a decision and be united on this issue.”
Zelensky’s pleas to the Twenty-Seven have been heard. History will “remember” each and every one of the decisions that are made these days in Brussels, “who fought and why,” the president of Ukraine warned the leaders of the Twenty-Seven at the beginning of the summit in a telematic speech. “The Europeans would not understand that the result of the Brussels summit is Vladimir Putin’s satisfied smile,” “do not give him what would be his first victory of the year,” Zelensky had pleaded, returning empty-handed from Washington, where he has tried unsuccessfully to convince Congress to unlock $60 billion in military aid.
Although there are no precedents to adopt a decision of such significance in this way, “constructive abstention” is a figure included in article 31 of the Lisbon Treaty. Isolating himself in his refusal to agree to the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine, Orbán has agreed not to be an obstacle to the European Council being able to act. In a video published on social networks immediately after the announcement, the ultra-conservative Magyar leader has reiterated that in his opinion it is “a bad decision” in which “Hungary” has not participated. Be that as it may, a process is thus set in motion that will not end while the country is at war. Everyone expects the talks to last for many years. And all countries know that they will have plenty of opportunities to put on the brakes if they feel that Kyiv is not moving in the right direction.
Several European leaders have appeared before the press or posted messages on social networks to celebrate the news. The European Council’s decision is “a strong signal of support and prospects for Ukraine,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “One thing is clear, these countries belong to the European family,” he added, citing the decision to also start accession talks with Moldova, a country that the EU also recognized as a candidate in June 2022. “It is an honor to share the path of accession to the EU with Ukraine and President Zelensky, we would not be here without Ukraine’s brave resistance to Russia’s brutal invasion,” celebrated the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, on social media. “We have kept our promises, we have made history. Now, let’s write our future together,” tweeted the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
