The European Union's leaders at a summit in Brussels accepted the European Commission's recommendation to begin accession negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine.

"The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova," President of the European Council Charles Michel tweeted.

The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine & Moldova. #EUCO granted candidate status to Georgia. And the EU will open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is reached and…

— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) December 14, 2023

All EU leaders must approve the start of negotiations, including Hungary, which up until now has shown opposition to the move.

Key leaders attempted to persuade Orbán of the necessity of backing Ukraine, as reported by European Pravda on Thursday morning. Subsequently, the Hungarian prime minister declared that while he "sees no reason" for negotiations, he was not opposed to Ukraine joining the EU.

It is not yet known how Orbán was persuaded to lift his veto.

The decision of the EU leaders means that the European Commission, without further delay, begins to prepare the technical aspects of negotiations with Ukraine on membership (the so-called negotiation framework).

The framework can be approved at the next EU summit in the spring of 2024 if it is recognised that Ukraine has fulfilled all the previous criteria of the European Commission.

In addition to membership negotiations, the European Council is considering three more important decisions related to Ukraine.