Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán told reporters that there have been many talks and the Hungarian position is clear: when it comes to EU membership, the preconditions for Ukraine have not been met, the Council is not in a position to make a decision – and Hungary will not budge.
He added:
The money for Ukraine, in short term, is already in the budget. If we would like to give longer term and bigger money, we have to manage outside the budget, and we support it.
Orbán also said:
Enlargement is not a theoretical issue. Enlargement is a merit-based, legally-detailed process, which has preconditions … there is no reason to negotiate membership of Ukraine now. Even not to negotiate.
Gitanas Nausėda, Lithuania’s president, said when arriving at the summit that he thinks “we have the chance – historical chance – to take very bold decision regarding the start of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.”
“This is in our hands – we can take it but we can waste it,” he said, adding that the people of Ukraine and Moldova “deserve positive outcome.”
He added:
My point is: if we will spoil, or if we will abuse the unanimity principle, there will be more and more voices asking why we still take the decisions on the consensus basis.
So for my country, which is benefiting from the unanimity principle, because this is a small-sized country, like Hungary for example, it’s very important to keep this principle. But we should not abuse this principle and … use this very correctly and very fairly. We’ll see.
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda talks to the media on December 14, 2023. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
Leaders are arriving at the summit this morning with the heavy lifting due to start more or less straight away.
The European Council has deliberately placed the most complicated issues at the top of the agenda: the proposed €50bn for Ukraine, followed by enlargement.
Expect these topics to take most of the day with all eyes on Hungary but also other states that are looking for assurances that Ukraine is not simply being fast tracked into the EU.
If the 27 members cannot unanimously agree on the fund for Ukraine, 26 member states are prepared to find an alternative mechanism to provide the money - but the preference is very much to do it through the EU with checks and balances on disbursements and expenditure already built in.
Following the Ukraine facility comes the issue of enlargement, then the revision of the bloc’s seven-year budget, known as the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework.
These subjects could well spill into tomorrow.
The remainder of the agenda is:
Middle East
Security and defence
Migration
Hybrid attacks by Russia
Fight against anti-Semitism
In a last-minute effort to prevent Budapest from blocking a key decision on opening EU accession talks with Ukraine, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will meet Hungary’s Viktor Orbán this morning.
All eyes are on Hungary today as the EU commences a two-day summit to top up the bloc’s budget, decide on spending priorities – including a proposed €50bn facility for Ukraine – and a key decision on whether to open accession talks with Kyiv.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has overshadowed the summit preparations over the past weeks after threatening twice in letters to European Council president Charles Michel to use his country’s veto to block the spending package and delay the decision on negotiations for Ukraine’s membership of the EU.
He dodged the media yesterday night at a summit on the Western Balkans, but told the Hungarian parliament before he left Budapest that the country was the voice of common sense in Europe.
Good morning and welcome to a special edition of the Europe blog, coming to you from the European Council summit in Brussels.
Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
