Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán left the room when the decision on enlargement was taken, thus allowing a unanimous decision by the European Council.
The member states of the European Council reached an agreement on the opening of negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the European Union.
“The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova”, announced Charles Michel, in a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter), after hours of discussions between the EU heads of government and state, meeting this Thursday on Friday, in Brussels, in a meeting marked by Hungarian threats of a veto.
For the president of the European Council, this is “a clear sign of hope for the citizens of these countries and for the European continent”.
Charles Michel’s spokesperson later told journalists in Brussels that “the European Council took a decision and no one contested it”, after Hungary threatened to veto the decision to open formal negotiations with Ukraine due to concerns related to corruption in the country.
However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán left the room when the decision on enlargement was taken, thus allowing a unanimous decision by the European Council.
After the decision, Orbán left a video message on the social network X (formerly Twitter), in which he explained his reasons for not participating in the vote.
“We have been at the negotiating table for almost eight hours, here in Brussels, at the European Council. We are having a big debate about Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. Hungary’s position is clear: Ukraine is not ready to start negotiations on EU membership,” he declared.
For the Hungarian Prime Minister, starting negotiations with Ukraine in these circumstances “is a completely senseless, irrational and incorrect decision”.
“On the other hand, 26 other countries insisted that this decision be made. For that reason, Hungary has decided that if the 26 decide to do so, they must go their own way. Hungary does not want to share this bad decision and for this reason Hungary did not participate today [esta quinta-feira] in the decision”, he highlighted.
Council grants candidate status to Georgia
In the publication on social network X, the president of the European Council indicated that the EU heads of government and state also decided to “grant candidate status to Georgia”.
“The EU will open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as the necessary degree of fulfillment of the accession criteria is reached and invited the Commission [Europeia] to present a report by March with a view to making this decision”, said Charles Michel.
However, the President of Ukraine has already reacted to the European Council’s decision, leaving a word of thanks to the leaders of the Member States.
“The European Council’s decision to open EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova has been adopted. I thank everyone who worked to make this happen and everyone who helped. I congratulate all Ukrainians on this day,” wrote Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the X social network.
The Ukrainian head of state also congratulated Moldova and his Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu.
The President of Moldova considered that the EU’s approval for accession negotiations is a “new page” for the country.
“We feel the warm embrace of Europe today. Thank you for your support and faith in our journey. We are committed to the hard work required to become a member of the EU. Moldova is ready to face the challenge”, reacted Maia Sandu on the X social network.