EU leaders announced the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union
This was announced by the President of the European Council Charles Michel
At the summit in Brussels, the leaders of the European Union approved the recommendation of the European Commission to open negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on accession to the bloc.
This was announced by the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
"The European Council has decided to open accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova," Michel wrote on Twitter.
The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine & Moldova. #EUCO granted candidate status to Georgia. And the EU will open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is reached and…
– Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) December 14, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the decision: "A victory for Ukraine. A victory for the whole of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires and strengthens."
Earlier, the European Commission recommended that the EU Council start negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on accession to the European Union, subject to a number of conditions. This was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. For Kyiv, these include expanding the use of minority languages and continuing the fight against corruption.
Chisinau needs to carry out judicial reform and address corruption issues.
The EU summit on Thursday has just begun and should last at least until tomorrow, possibly longer. It is noted that the issue of Ukraine promised to be the main stumbling block – the decision to invite it to the talks must be made unanimously by all 27 countries, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban continued to say that Ukraine was not ready for EU membership even before the meeting began.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban "abstained" from voting.
EU diplomats say he simply walked out of the meeting room before the vote, Reuters reports. At the same time, he knew that if he did not vote, the decision would be made in his absence.
He himself stated that he "abstained".
At the same time, Orban has already written on Facebook that "Hungary does not want to participate in this bad decision and therefore stayed away from this decision today."
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