Before the start of the two-day EU summit, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban held a meeting with the head of the European Council Charles Michel, the head of the EC Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the press secretary of the Hungarian Prime Minister Bertalan Havasi said.
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“Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday morning, before the start of the EU summit, held a meeting with the heads of EU bodies and several member states. The meeting was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel,” Havashi said.
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The press secretary did not name the topic of the negotiations, but in recent weeks Orban met twice with Michel, once with Macron, and also talked with other European leaders, the main topic was the beginning of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and the allocation of money to Kyiv from the European budget.
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Currently, almost all EU decisions on Ukraine are blocked by Hungary, including the eighth tranche of military aid for 500 million euros, 5 billion euros from the European Peace Fund for military support in 2024, a broader package of 20 billion for military aid for four years, and also 50 billion macro-financial assistance for 2024-2027. In addition, Budapest categorically does not agree to the start of negotiations with Kiev on Ukraine’s membership in the EU, proposing not even to bring this issue to the summit, but to return to it “in 5-10 years” after developing a new strategy for relations with Ukraine.
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There is talk on the sidelines of European institutions that this position of Budapest on Ukraine is “tacitly” supported by a number of other EU countries.
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Earlier, Orban said that Budapest proposes not to put the issue of starting negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the EU on the agenda of the summit in December at all, since it is clear in advance that there will be no agreement among the member countries. He also expressed the opinion that Ukraine’s membership could be discussed in 5-10 years, subject to the conclusion of a strategic partnership agreement with Kiev.
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On November 8, the European Commission recommended starting negotiations on accession to the EU with Ukraine and Moldova and conditioned the adoption of the negotiation framework on the fulfillment of several conditions by Kiev and Chisinau.
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The formal decision to begin the negotiation process will be discussed by heads of state and government at the EU summit in Brussels on December 14-15. The decision must be made unanimously by all current members of the European Union.
