Summary of the day
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, reiterated his position that Ukrainian membership of the EU should not be on the agenda.
Kyiv has increased pressure on the EU to open accession talks, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s most senior adviser warning that without his country “the ‘Europe puzzle’ cannot come together”.
Ahead of a challenging leaders’ summit, the European Council president, Charles Michel, told heads of state and government they should come to Brussels with a “spirit of compromise” and “sense of collective responsibility”.
Michel met Orbán in Brussels. The Hungarian leader said “our position is clear: we do not support Ukraine’s fast Union accession.”
The leaders of major political groups in the European parliament sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, outlining their objections to unfreezing EU funds for Hungary.
The European Commission then announced it was unfreezing about €10bn earmarked for Hungary – about a third of the total amount suspended over a host of concerns related to rule of law.
Tibor Navracsics, Hungary’s regional development minister, said: “We have fulfilled all the conditions, so we are very confident that EU funds will now come.”
The German Green MEP Daniel Freund said that by releasing the money, “von der Leyen is making the biggest mistake of her time in office”.
The Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa, the centre-right European People’s Party group’s spokesperson for budget issues, said “it really seems like Orbán’s blackmailing has succeeded”.
Iratxe García Pérez, the head of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European parliament, said “unblocking funds for Orbán is a serious mistake”.
Ten independent Hungarian media outlets warned that a new “sovereignty” law is “capable of severely restricting the freedom of the press”.
The far-right party Konfederacja’s group in the Polish parliament suspended Grzegorz Braun, who yesterday stoked controversy at home and abroad after he used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles.
British, German, Italian and 10 other foreign affairs committees called on the EU to lift all sanctions on Kosovo.
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Donald Tusk told Polish reporters there would likely be an interaction with Volodymyr Zelenskiy tomorrow but it was not yet clear if it would be by video or in person.
The Ukrainian side has requested a meeting tomorrow morning, the Polish leader said, noting that there is not decision yet on the format of the Ukrainian leader’s participation.
Unblocking Hungarian funds 'serious mistake,' Socialist leader says
Iratxe García Pérez, the head of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European parliament, said this evening that “unblocking funds for Orbán is a serious mistake” by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
“Despite the promise of reform, the judiciary in Hungary is not independent,” she said.
Unblocking funds for Orbán is a serious mistake by @vonderleyen.
— Iratxe Garcia Perez /❤️ (@IratxeGarper) December 13, 2023
Despite the promise of reform, the judiciary in Hungary is not independent.
We regret the Commission’s decision today, as it exposes Hungarians to more attacks on the rule of law in the future.
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'Catastrophical': Centre-right blasts European Commission decision on Hungary
The Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa, the centre-right European People’s Party group’s spokesperson for budget issues, called the European Commission’s move today to unlock around €10bn for Hungary a “catastrophical decision”.
He said:
How can the commission evaluate something that is yet to exist?
As the members to the national judicial council have not even been named, there is no way of knowing its impact on the rule of law situation in Hungary.
Amongst the members of the budgetary control committee, we appealed to the commission already in November and encouraged them to wait out the entire process to establish the national judicial council.
It really seems like Orbán’s blackmailing has succeeded.
I decline to believe that the terrible timing of this decision was merely a bad coincidence, especially considering that we know how Orbán intends to hold the other 26 member states as hostages in the European Council later this week.
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Tusk returns to the Council
Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, has urged people to reconsider their views on Viktor Orbán’s threat to block further support for Ukraine.
“Apathy” on Ukraine is “unacceptable,” he said, returning to an EU summit for the first time in years, adding that he would try to convince some member states.
“I will try to find maybe a new key to convince not only Mr Orbán,” he said. “Orbán is a very pragmatic politician.”
Tusk was president of the European Council between 2014 and 2019 and helped steered the difficult Brexit process to its conclusion.
One diplomat said: “His presence in the room will be seen as a positive … and the fact that he is so well known will create a sense of an old friend coming back.”
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Michel meets Orbán ahead of tense summit
The European Council president, Charles Michel, met Viktor Orbán today as leaders try to convince the Hungarian prime minister not to block the opening of EU accession talks with Kyiv.
In a Facebook post about the session with Michel, Orbán said:
Our position is clear: we do not support Ukraine’s fast Union accession!
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European Commission unlocks €10bn for Hungary, despite criticism from MEPs and experts
The European Commission today announced that it is unfreezing about €10bn earmarked for Hungary – about a third of the total amount suspended over a host of rule of law-related concerns.
The commission argued that Hungary has fulfilled a set of judiciary reforms and thus deserves access to access part of the funding on merit.
In a statement, the commission said:
After a thorough assessment, and several exchanges with the Hungarian government, the Commission considers that Hungary has taken the measures it committed to take in order for the Commission to consider that the horizontal enabling condition on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is fulfilled in what concerns judicial independence.
This means part of the Cohesion Policy funding would no longer be blocked, and therefore Hungary may start claiming reimbursements of up to around €10.2bn.
Tibor Navracsics, Hungary’s regional development minister, told the Guardian:
We have fulfilled all the conditions, so we are very confident that EU funds will now come.
Nevertheless, the decision is proving highly controversial.
Hungarian civil society groups who monitor judicial independence say the government hasn’t fully met the criteria. And a group of four political groups in the European parliament – including the centre-right European People’s party and the Socialists and Democrats – also expressed concern in a letter to the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, today.
Critics of the commission’s move say there is a perception that unlocking the funds was rushed in order to help convince the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to lift his block on key Ukraine-related decisions that leaders had planned to take at a summit that begins tomorrow.
Reacting to the Wednesday afternoon decision, the German Green MEP Daniel Freund said in a statement:
By releasing €10bn to Orbán, von der Leyen is making the biggest mistake of her time in office.
The necessary reforms have not been implemented. However, the timing of the release only allows the conclusion that this was not about judicial reforms. Instead, the €10bn was intended to remove Orbán’s veto. There was no obligation to respond to Hungary’s request before the summit.
Ursula von der Leyen is now paying the largest bribe in the history of the EU – – – to the autocrat and Putin friend Viktor Orbán. The signal is fatal: the EU Commission is showing today that Viktor Orbán’s blackmail tactics are paying off.
In its statement explaining the decision, the Commission said it “will closely and continuously monitor” the measures Hungary put in place. It also warned:
If, at any point in time, the Commission considers that this horizontal enabling condition is no longer fulfilled, it may again decide to block funding.
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The Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, has warned Viktor Orbán that the EU is not a “Hungarian bazaar” where support for Ukraine can be bartered in exchange for his political support.
Speaking upon arrival at the summit on the western Balkans, he chimed with Luxembourg’s deputy prime minister, Xavier Bettel, who said yesterday the EU was not a “souk”.
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The European parliament president, Roberta Metsola, has urged EU leaders to show strong solidarity to Ukraine’s enlargement hopes in the face of opposition from Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to opening membership negotiations with Kyiv.
“Our hope today is that we do not continue to go around in circles,” she said.
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Speaking ahead of the EU-western Balkans summit, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said: “We live in a difficult, challenging and dangerous environment, and this affects the European Union, this affects our neighbourhood, and this affects the western Balkans.”
Enlargement must “speed up”, he said.
Borrell said the bloc would provide additional funding to strengthen the resilience of North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro.
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Arriving at the EU-western Balkans summit in Brussels this afternoon, the European Council president, Charles Michel, said it was an “occasion to reiterate our firm commitment”.
He added:
We want those countries within the EU. We are expecting from them more reforms – especially in the field of rule of law, in the field of the independence of justice. But on our side, on the EU side, we must also do our homework.
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Far-right Polish party suspends MP who used fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles
The far-right party Konfederacja’s group in the Polish parliament announced that it is suspending Grzegorz Braun, who yesterday stoked controversy at home and abroad after he used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles in the parliament building.
Klub Poselski Konfederacja zawiesza posła Grzegorza Brauna w prawach członka Klubu i nakłada na posła Grzegorza Brauna zakaz wypowiedzi z mównicy sejmowej na czas nieokreślony.
— Konfederacja (@KONFEDERACJA_) December 13, 2023
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Michael McFaul, an academic and former US ambassador to Russia, wrote on social media:
“Maybe it’s time for Orban to start negotiations over Hungary leaving the European Union and joining the Eurasia Economic Union? See how that goes down with Hungarian voters?”
Maybe it’s time for Orban to start negotiations over Hungary leaving the European Union and joining the Eurasia Economic Union? See how that goes down with Hungarian voters? https://t.co/GiLtyukfzB
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) December 13, 2023
Finland’s ministerial committee on EU affairs has outlined the country’s position ahead of the upcoming summit, taking a supportive position on opening accession talks with Ukraine and raising concerns about proposed budget changes.
With regard to enlargement, Finland’s view is that enlargement based on the applicant countries’ merits and fulfilment of membership criteria strengthens the union’s security, global status and economic wellbeing while also promoting democracy, the rule of law and the realisation of fundamental rights.
Finland agrees with the commission’s recommendation to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and to adopt the negotiating frameworks once the remaining conditions are met.
On the proposed revision of the bloc’s long-term budget, which covers 2021-27, the Finnish committee said:
Finland’s view is that the total amount of additional funding is too high.
Instead, Finland stresses the need to increase the amount of reallocations within the budget from current EU funds.
Finland is strongly committed to supporting Ukraine and is open to various funding solutions.
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The full text of the four European parliament political groups’ letter on Hungary has been published.
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Leading political groups tell Commission: Hungary hasn't fulfilled conditions to get funds
The leaders of major political groups in the European parliament have sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, outlining their objections to unfreezing EU funds for Hungary.
In the letter, seen by the Guardian, the political group presidents wrote:
We would like to express our deep concern as regards the imminent positive assessment of the Hungarian judicial reforms and their fulfilment of the four judicial milestones set out in the horizontal enabling condition under the Common Provisions Regulation.
They added:
In our view, the horizontal enabling condition referring to the independence of the judiciary has not been fulfilled.
The political group leaders also noted a number of specific concerns:
We are most concerned about the implementation requirement regarding the strengthening of the National Judicial Council.
They also raised concerns about Hungary’s new “sovereignty protection” law.
The letter was signed by Iratxe García Pérez for the Socialists and Democrats group, Manfred Weber for the centre-right European People’s party, Stéphane Séjourné for Renew Europe, and Philippe Lamberts and Terry Reintke for the Greens.
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Michel calls for 'spirit of compromise'
Ahead of a challenging leaders’ summit, the European Council president, Charles Michel, told heads of state and government they should come to Brussels with a “spirit of compromise” and “sense of collective responsibility”.
He wrote:
We need to live up to our commitments on Ukraine and continue to be a reliable and strong partner. We must provide Ukraine with continued and sustainable political, financial and military support and, in particular, come to an agreement on providing €50bn for its long term stability.
We also have to agree to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, thereby giving it a necessary signal and bringing it yet closer to our European family.
Michel added:
A pivotal European Council lies ahead of us. Now is the time for decision-making. I call on you all to come equipped with a spirit of compromise, a sense of collective responsibility, with the union’s interests and values at the forefront of your minds.
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Commission says Hungary still needs one more step before decision on unfreezing €10bn
Asked about the expected release of €10bn in frozen EU funds for Hungary, the European Commission spokesperson, Eric Mamer, told reporters that he could not give an update and that as far as he understands, “we are still waiting for a final step on the side of the Hungarian authorities, after which we will analyse the situation”.
Mamer said that the commission was waiting for the publication in the Hungarian official journal of a final piece of legislation, and after that a decision-making process still needed to take place.
“We will have to see how things unfold,” he said.
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Parliamentary committees call for lifting Kosovo sanctions
British, German, Italian and 10 other foreign affairs committees have called on the EU to lift all sanctions on Kosovo ahead of a key summit of Western Balkans leaders in Brussels today.
In a joint letter led by British MP and foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns, they have also called on the EU, US and UK to undertake a full investigation into the attack and siege of a monastery in September that left three attackers and one police officer dead.
The letter comes three months after the security situation on the border with Serbia deteriorated with a gun battle in the northern village of Banjska adding to mounting tension between the Pristina and Belgrade.
“In light of the EU-Western Balkans summit, we write to request that all negative measures in place against Kosovo are reversed and full cooperation with the Kosovan government is resumed,” the letter said.
It was address to Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat and Miroslav Lajčák, the EU’s special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.
It was signed by Kearns, Michael Roth, the chair of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee, Lia Quartapelle, vice president of the Italian foreign affairs committee and the chairs of similar committees in Ireland, Latvia, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, Croatia, Denmark and Bulgaria. The foreign affairs committees of the upper and lower chamber in Czechia also signed the letter.
The EU introduced restrictive measures including reduced high-level visits, contacts and financial co-operation with Kosovo in line with similar measures taken by the US in May.
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Antony Blinken has congratulated Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk.
Congratulations to Donald Tusk on the formation of a new government for our Ally Poland, following the historic elections turnout in October. I look forward to working with Prime Minister Tusk to build on the longstanding, strategic U.S.-Poland partnership.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 13, 2023
Kyiv pressures EU to open accession talks at Brussels summit
Kyiv has increased pressure on the EU to open accession talks at a crucial summit this week, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s most senior adviser warning that without his country “the ‘Europe puzzle’ cannot come together”.
After the European Commission’s recommendation last month that formal membership talks begin, the EU’s 27 heads of government are due to discuss the proposal at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
But there is increasing concern in Kyiv that repeated threats by Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, to veto Ukraine’s membership could lead to the decision being deferred.
In a fresh appeal to member state leaders, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has urged EU countries to recognise that Ukraine has “much to offer” the bloc.
Yermak said:
Values-wise and ideologically, Ukraine is an indisputable part of Europe – which is precisely why Russia attacked us. We want to be part of the EU, and membership is one of the key priorities of our state policy. However, we are aware that willingness alone is not enough.
Ukraine has demonstrated the ability to undergo rapid transformation … We are geared towards a highly constructive dialogue regarding accession and count on a similar approach from our partner countries. Without Ukraine, the ‘Europe’ puzzle cannot come together.
Read the full story here.
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Hungarian media outlets warn of press freedom restrictions after 'sovereignty' law adopted
Ten independent Hungarian media outlets issued a joint warning on Wednesday that a new law is “capable of severely restricting the freedom of the press.”
The media organisations, which range from small investigative outlets to popular online news portals, said that a law approved by Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday could make it “difficult or even impossible for independent newsrooms, journalists and media companies to operate.”
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has repeatedly argued that western governments and individuals are funding and directing his opponents.
In recent weeks, the Hungarian government intensified its domestic messaging on the claim that foreign forces are meddling in Hungarian public life and that stricter rules are needed to protect the country’s “sovereignty.”
The law approved this week creates a “sovereignty protection office” with broad powers to investigate anyone active in public life.
A Hungarian government spokesperson said the new office “will function autonomously with an independent budget, focusing on analysis, evaluation, and investigation to safeguard constitutional identity by scrutinizing foreign interventions in Hungary’s democratic and decision-making processes.”
Celebrating the law’s passage, Orbán wrote on social media: “Hungary belongs to the the Hungarians! We won’t let Hungary’s future be decided abroad!”
But Hungarian civil society groups and media organisations say the true aim of the legislation is not accountability, but to intimidate and silence critics.
“The so-called ‘Sovereignty Protection Authority’ will be an arbitrarily appointed body with unlimited powers, operating without any oversight,” the ten media organisations said in their statement.
“This office will have the means to threaten and harass the individuals and organisations it targets,” they said, pledging to continue their work.
The new law “does not serve the information security of our society; on the contrary, it is meant to directly undermine it with its threat to free media and democratic debate in general,” the media groups said.
Ahead of the law’s adoption, a large group of Hungarian civil society groups also raised concerns, arguing that the legislation is unconstitutional and meant to produce a chilling effect.
“A country where people are intimidated from representing their own interests is not a democracy,” the NGOs said. “Where citizens are accused of serving foreign interests if they speak their minds on public affairs there is no freedom.”
The new law has also raised worries outside of Hungary.
On Wednesday, the International Press Institute said it “condemns passing of Sovereignty Protection Act by the Orbán gov without proper public consultation & calls for an EU challenge against the law.”
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Gift for a 'merry' summit: MEP sends Council chief photo album of Orbán with autocrats
Daniel Freund, a German Green member of the European parliament and vocal critic of the Hungarian government, has sent a symbolic gift to the European Council president, Charles Michel, before this week’s key summit: a photo album of Hungarian government meetings with prominent autocrats around the world.
The album includes images of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his controversial foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, spending time with senior politicians from Russia and other authoritarian states.
Freund also made a Christmas-themed video of the gift, titled “Special Moments of the Upcoming Hungarian Council Presidency” – a reference to Hungary holding the rotating presidency of the council in the second half of next year.
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Orbán doubles down on opposition to EU accession talks with Kyiv
One day before a key European leaders’ summit begins in Brussels, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, reiterated his position that Hungary would block opening accession negotiations with Ukraine.
“The European Union is getting ready to make a terrible mistake, and they have to be prevented in this – even if 26 want to do this, and only we are opposed,” he said.
Speaking in a podcast interview with Mandiner, a pro-government Hungarian publication, published this morning, the prime minister said:
The Hungarian position is that if we want to give Ukraine support, a geopolitical signal, then let’s give – but that’s not membership. Let’s leave membership as what it is.
The Hungarian leader argued that opening Ukraine’s path to accession would undermine the bloc’s credibility, adding:
That’s why I say, take down membership from the agenda, Hungary will insist on that, so that question is not worth seriously debating, that route is closed, because Hungary doesn’t agree to that. But let’s speak sensibly about how within the framework of a strategic partnership let’s give the Ukrainians things in which we geostrategically strengthen them.
The prime minister also said that he did not mix questions of money and principle. On the issue of Hungary’s frozen EU funds, Orbán underscored that he believed Hungary was owed the money.
He also hinted Budapest was open to compromising on financial issues.
I am willing on financial questions, to make financial deals. But I am not willing on financial questions, to make strategic or policy deals.
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