Deal reached to open EU accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova – as it happened

Behind the scenes at the European Council summit.

The European Council president, Charles Michel, came down to speak with reporters after leaders made their historic decision to open accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova.

In a video posted on Facebook in recent minutes, Viktor Orbán repeated his position that Ukraine was not ready to begin EU accession talks.

Opening accession negotiations with Kyiv is “irrational” under the current circumstances, the Hungarian leader said.

“Hungary is not modifying its position,” he said, adding that the 26 other member states insisted on taking the step to open negotiations with Ukraine. As a result, he said, Hungary decided the 26 could go their own way while it stayed away from the decision.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has reacted to the European Council’s decision to open accession talks.

“This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens,” he wrote.

The president added:

History is made by those who don’t get tired of fighting for freedom.

The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, left the room while leaders made the decision to open accession talks with Ukraine, three EU diplomats told the Guardian.

14 Dec 202312.41 EST

Lisa O'Carroll

It is not clear whether the momentous decision to start negotiations with Ukraine on EU membership was taken with the approval or even blessing of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

A spokesperson said: “There was a decision taken on enlargement that was not blocked by anyone.”

There is no room for abstention in the EU treaties, raising questions about whether Orbán voted.

After hours of talks among the EU’s 27 leaders, the European Council president, Charles Michel, has announced that the bloc’s leaders have “decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine & Moldova”.

The leaders have also granted candidate status to Georgia, he said, and the EU will open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina “once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is reached and has invited the commission to report by March with a view to taking such a decision”.

“[This is] a clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent,” Michel said.

As leaders discuss Ukraine’s future relationship with Europe, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs arguing for western partners to stick with Kyiv and focus on the big picture.

“The skeptics are correct that our recent counteroffensive did not achieve the lightning-fast liberation of occupied land,” he said. “But pessimism is unwarranted, and it would be a mistake to let defeatism shape our policy decisions going forward.”

Kuleba also argued that there was a divergence between public discourse and discussions behind closed doors:

At the end of last month, I attended a Nato ministerial meeting in Brussels. What struck me most was the disparity between the mood inside the chamber and the mood outside it.

On the sidelines, reporters opened their questions by asserting that the war had reached a “stalemate” and that “war fatigue” would cripple support, before wondering why Ukraine wouldn’t offer to trade territory for peace.

Yet such defeatist narratives were absent in the official discussions, with ministers making a firm commitment to additional military aid and sustained support.

But he warned against war fatigue narratives impacting policy:

However prevalent a false narrative of attrition becomes, we should not allow it to set policymaking and our shared strategy on a disastrous course. Nor should we be duped into believing that Moscow is ready for a fair negotiated solution.

The European Greens have spoken out against Viktor Orbán’s position on Ukraine, calling for an end to unanimity voting on EU foreign policy decisions.

European Green co-presidents Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel said:

This case, where a single leader can act as a Trojan horse for Putin, and block the whole process of helping Ukraine, shows once again that the need for unanimity among European member states on foreign policy issues prevents the EU from taking the right decisions.

They added:

The European Green party is in favour of ending the risk of national vetoes on foreign policy, by replacing the unanimity rule by a qualified majority voting rule.

This will be one of the proposals in the green election manifesto, our political platform for the next European elections.

Meanwhile in Poland …

The Sejm speaker, Szymon Hołownia, Senate speaker, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, and president, Andrzej Duda, took part in a Hanukah celebration, days after a far-right MP doused Hanukah candles in parliament with a fire extinguisher.

“Today’s hottest photo from EUCO,” wrote Latvia’s prime minister, Evika Siliņa, responding to an image of her and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán that has garnered attention on social media.

Latvia is a strong ally of Ukraine.