EU leaders agreed on Thursday start accession negotiations with Ukrainebut this after the unexpected exit of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, from the meeting hall. right politicalGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a solution that enabled the decision to start negotiations with Kyiv.

After several hours of difficult discussions regarding the start of negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked with his veto, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a solution.

Scholz told Orbán, in front of other leaders, that if he really did not want to agree, he could leave the room so EU leaders could reach a unanimous decision on enlargement in his absence, two officials briefed on the matter said. at discussions.

However, the proposal did not arise spontaneously, but was agreed upon during preliminary discussions, one of the officials said. A third official said Orbán was “temporarily absent from the room in a pre-agreed and constructive manner”.

The decision to open accession talks with Ukraine came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán decided to leave the room during the debate to allow a deal, writes the Financial Times.

In a video published on social networks, Viktor Orban can be seen repeating his position that Ukraine is not ready to start negotiations on joining the EU.

Hungary did not want to participate in the “bad decision” of the European Council to start accession negotiations with Ukraine on Thursday and stayed away from this decision, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on his Facebook page.

• “But the 26 member states were adamant that this decision had to be made, so Hungary decided that if the 26 member states make such a decision, they should go their own way. Hungary does not want to participate in this bad decision and therefore stayed away from today’s decision,” Orbán said.

Balash Orban, political adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, emphasized that Ukraine’s path to EU membership is long and will require a series of unanimous decisions. He also explained Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s decision to leave the hall at the time of the decision to start accession negotiations with Ukraine.

• “After long negotiations, Hungary has decided to leave the meeting room and abstain from voting – not to prevent an outcome, but to avoid cooperating in what we consider to be a wrong decision,” he said in a post on social media.
• “The agreement of the European Council is a fundamental decision. Subsequently, the member states must also unanimously agree on the specific framework for the negotiations.
• In addition, a minimum of 70 unanimous decisions will be needed to support Ukraine’s accession to the EU in the coming years,” he added.

However, European officials and diplomats suspect that Orbán is using the issue as a pawn in his own negotiations, in which he is trying to unblock European funds meant for Hungary but which have been blocked by Brussels over concerns about Budapest’s lack of respect for the rule of law.

“We are not a Hungarian market where we can exchange one thing for another,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said a day ago. “Ukraine is a country that wants to respect democratic values… which, perhaps, should be a lesson for Orbán himself,” he added.

Despite his comments, the European Commission allocated 10.2 billion euros to Hungary on Wednesday afternoon, before the start of the summit.

As for the approval of the $50 billion aid package for Ukraine, the European Commission already has a “plan B” in case Budapest does not waive the veto. This would require that instead of a fund approved at Community level, Member States would individually approve aid packages that would reach this amount, depending on the size of their savings.

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Wednesday that European Union leaders are likely to reach an agreement this week on 50 billion euros for Ukraine, as it should come in a package with other money to benefit Hungary.