"Orban left the summit before the vote": the EU allies override Hungarian veto
The Hungarian PM was absent when the decision to start talks with Ukraine and Moldova was made on December 14.
EU leaders voted in favor, overriding Orban's veto, the press release says.
Several EU Council members deliberately left the meeting during the voting on the decision on Ukraine.
"The main thing is that no one opposed this decision. Thus, the EU has agreed on the decision to start negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant Georgia candidate status," said one of the interlocutors from the EU structures.
According to the sources, all other states voted in favor of starting negotiations with Ukraine, so there were 26 votes in favor and one abstention.
"Legally, it is absolutely in line with the rules. Yes, we made the decision without Orban's presence, but not behind his back. He knew that this decision was going to be voted on and left the room," said a representative of the team of European Council President Charles Michel.
Charles Michel said that EU leaders supported the opening of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
Zelensky reacted to the European Council's decision to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.
The decision of the EU leaders means that the European Commission begins preparing the technical aspects of the membership negotiations with Ukraine (the so-called negotiating framework) without further delay.
The framework may be approved at the next EU summit in the spring of 2024 if it is recognized that Ukraine has fulfilled all the previous criteria of the European Commission.
On December 14, a summit of EU leaders started in Brussels.
It will discuss several issues related to Ukraine, including the allocation of 50 billion euros of economic support for Kyiv, 20 billion euros for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and starting negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the bloc.
