Negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU to start on December 18 - media
Kyiv • UNN
The EU will start formal membership talks with Ukraine after EU leaders approved the recommendation, despite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban abstaining from the vote.
The European Union will start official negotiations with Ukraine on its membership in the EU on Monday, December 18. This was announced during a meeting of the European Council in Brussels by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Kroe, UNN reports with reference to DW.
Details
An hour earlier, at the EU summit, the leaders of the EU member states approved the European Commission's recommendation to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.
Such decisions are supposed to be made unanimously, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban walked out of the room during the vote.
De Kroe explained that this was not a veto. "So this decision is binding on 27 countries. These are the rules of the game, everyone knows them," he said. According to him, Orban was "very well aware of the decision," so since it was not blocked by any member, it is considered legal.
Orban himself posted a video on Facebook in which he said he abstained from voting because he did not want to participate in a "bad decision." De Kroe said: "If you agreed with this decision, which 27 countries in this room did, you shouldn't speak afterwards: "I have a different opinion on this" (...) After that, you should keep your mouth shut." The Belgian prime minister added that he "should not have said that" and left.
We add
EU leaders continue to discuss the topic of the EU's long-term budget, which they want to include macro-financial assistance to Ukraine worth 50 billion euros, which Orban also opposes. The summit will last at least until the evening of December 15.
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