Brussels: Orban blocks Ukraine decision at EU summit

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked a clear decision to start EU accession negotiations with Ukraine at the EU summit in Brussels. However, it initially remained unclear whether a positive signal could be sent to Kiev at the end of the top meeting.

The last regular summit of this year is not scheduled to end until this Friday. Participants also did not rule out the possibility that it could even last into the weekend.

In view of the difficult talks, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said he had packed a lot of shirts as a precaution. The summit will last as long as necessary.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said upon his arrival at the summit that it was important to advance the accession process and send a clear sign of support to Kiev. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin must know “that he cannot rely on the European Union and its member states decreasing their support for Ukraine.”

At almost the same time in Moscow, Putin pointed out that Western support was already beginning to crumble. Ukraine no longer produces anything itself and lives on what the West currently supplies for free, he said. “But the gifts are running out,” Putin said at his annual press conference.

Compromise for Orban?

A possible compromise in the dispute over the EU accession negotiations with Ukraine on Thursday was to decide in principle to start this step, but at the same time to agree that a further necessary decision for the start of the first round of negotiations would not be made until the next regular EU summit at the earliest to meet next March. In this scenario, it would then be up to the heads of state and government to confirm that Ukraine has actually fulfilled all the necessary reform requirements.

EU Council President Charles Michel’s original plan actually called for further decisions to be made at ministerial level.

Orban said at the summit that seven preconditions had been set for further steps in the accession process, and even according to the EU Commission’s analysis, three of them had not recently been met. That’s why there is nothing to discuss at the moment.

Frozen funds should not be an issue

Orban categorically rejected allegations that he wanted to use the blockade to free EU funds for his country that had been frozen due to constitutional deficits. “This is not about a trade. This is not about a deal,” he said. Hungary stands for principles.

Around 21 billion euros in EU funds for Hungary are currently frozen. Until shortly before the summit it had even been more than 30 billion euros. On Wednesday, however, the EU Commission announced that it would release around ten billion euros due to judicial reforms.

Orban’s position at the summit is particularly problematic because he was able to rely on a summit decision from June 2022 with a view to the EU accession negotiations with Ukraine. This states that a decision on further steps in the accession process should only be made when “all of these conditions have been fully met”.

Zelenskyj reminds us of people in trenches

Supporters of a positive decision, however, pointed out at the summit that the start of EU accession negotiations should primarily be a symbolic step. “It will take many years until accession takes place anyway,” said outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, for example. It’s about enabling the next step for a country that is working extremely hard on reforms during a war that it is also waging for the EU.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who joined the deliberations at the EU summit via video conference at the beginning of the summit, made similar comments. “It’s not about what politicians need. It’s about what the people need,” said Zelensky, according to the text of the speech published by an EU spokeswoman.

This affects the people in the trenches, but also those who saved lives in Ukraine or helped ensure that children could learn despite the Russian war of aggression. But a positive decision is also important for EU citizens who believe that Europe should not fall back into the “old days of endless fruitless disputes between the capitals.”

Germany wants to limit budget increases

Another difficult topic at the EU summit were the EU Commission’s proposals for an increase in the long-term EU budget. Germany and other net contributors made it clear that they actually only wanted to provide large sums of additional funds for necessary new financial aid for Ukraine and not, for example, for promoting industrial competitiveness and EU migration policy.

It was considered likely on Thursday evening that there would be a compromise by the end of the summit that would provide around 17 billion euros in grants and 33 billion euros in loans for Ukraine over the next four years. At the request of countries like Italy, there could be a mid-single-digit billion sum for competition promotion and migration policy.

At least Orban was initially not open to concessions. When asked about room for compromise, he said: “Hungarians are genetically not sensitive to pressure, that will not influence our position.”