On Thursday 14 December, European leaders decided to open EU accession talks with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, and to grant candidate country status to Georgia. They will decide on the fate of Bosnia-Herzegovina after the European Commission has reported on the progress made, by March 2024 at the latest.
Against all expectations, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, let his colleagues decide.
“Viktor Orbán presented his arguments several times and realized that he couldn’t actually convince us”, explained Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden. And his Slovenian counterpart, Robert Golob, added: “When he saw that he could not convince his colleagues to the contrary, [Mr Orbán] preferred to withdraw from the vote. And then the decision was also taken unanimously in his absence”.
According to a European source, “Mr Orbán was momentarily absent from the room in a pre-agreed and constructive manner”.
According to a European diplomat, the Hungarian delegation requested that an asterisk be added to the European Council conclusions to certify that Hungary had not participated in the European Council’s decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine.
Mr Orbán remained firm on his position in a video posted on Facebook. “Hungary’s position is clear. Ukraine is not ready to start negotiations on EU membership. It is a completely senseless, irrational and wrong decision to open negotiations with Ukraine under these circumstances and Hungary is not changing its position on this point”, he stressed.
Explaining that the other 26 Member States had insisted that the decision be taken, Mr Orbán said that Budapest did not want to share in this “bad decision”. His Political Director, Balázs Orbán, pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that the Member States will have to agree unanimously on the specific negotiating framework and the holding of an Intergovernmental Conference. “Additionally, a minimum of 70 unanimous decisions will be required throughout the upcoming years to endorse Ukraine’s accession to the EU”, he warned.
In its conclusions, the European Council invites the EU Council to adopt the respective negotiating frameworks “once the relevant steps set out in the respective Commission recommendations of 8 November 2023 are taken“ (see EUROPE 13288/1).
The leaders also reiterated “the European Union’s unwavering commitment to continue to provide strong political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes”. They welcomed the adoption of the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, which has yet to be formally adopted (see EUROPE 13293/1). According to a European source, Austria has withdrawn its reservation.
The leaders also decided to grant candidate country status to Georgia “on the understanding that the relevant steps set out in the Commission recommendation of 8 November 2023 are taken”. According to the European Commission, Georgia met three of the twelve criteria identified in June 2022.
Several European leaders described the decision as historic. For the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, this is “a historic moment and shows the credibility of the European Union, the strength of the European Union”. “We want to support Ukraine, it’s a very powerful political signal, it’s a very powerful decision”, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately welcomed the EU27’s decision. “I thank everyone who worked for this to happen and everyone who helped. I congratulate every Ukrainian on this day. History is made by those who don’t get tired of fighting for freedom”, he stressed.
For the Moldovan President, Maia Sandu, her country is “turning a new page”. “We’re feeling Europe’s warm embrace today. Thank you for your support and faith in our journey. We’re committed to the hard work needed to become an EU member. Moldova is ready to rise to the challenge”, stressed President Sandu.
For his part, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili expressed his gratitude to European leaders “for acknowledging Georgia’s civilisational choice”. “We remain dedicated and eagerly look forward to advancing on our integration path”, he added.
Sarajevo will have to wait at least until March 2024
The EU27 also came back to the issue of the Western Balkans following a summit with the countries of the region (see EUROPE 13313/8).
Most of the discussion focused on Bosnia-Herzegovina, despite the fact that several Member States had made the opening of negotiations with Kyiv conditional on the opening of negotiations with Sarajevo.
In the end, the EU27 decided to adhere to the European Commission’s recommendations of 8 November and to agree to the opening of negotiations “once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved”.
According to the conclusions adopted by the EU leaders, the “fate” of Bosnia-Herzegovina will be decided “after the Commission has reported on the progress made, at the latest by March 2024".
“The decision taken with regard to Bosnia-Herzegovina is very clear: negotiations must be opened. Of course, subject to the conditions it must meet. But the most important thing is that there has been virtually no opposition, which means that in March negotiations will probably begin”, commented Mr Golob.
In addition, the EU27 endorsed the Commission’s conclusions on North Macedonia. The chapters or ‘clusters’ of the EU accession negotiations with Skopje can thus be opened “as soon as it has implemented its commitment to complete the constitutional changes as referred to in the Council conclusions of 18 July 2022 (see EUROPE 12996/2) in line with its internal procedures”.
A brief section of the text is devoted more generally to the six countries of the Western Balkans. The heads of state or government call on them to “step up their accession process “ and reiterate their commitment to advancing the “gradual integration between the European Union and the region during the enlargement process itself in a reversible and merit-based manner”.
To see the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/a5n (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Thomas Mangin, with the editorial staff)