Emmanuel Macron has invited Viktor Orban to a meeting in Paris later this week.
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The French President is seeking to find a compromise with the Hungarian Prime Minister regarding the start of negotiations with Ukraine on its accession to the EU, Politico reports.
According to a source in Paris, the French president believes that the Hungarian leader can still be persuaded to support Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
The official said Orban had “upped the ante” to get more money from the EU. However, there is optimism that agreement can be achieved.
On December 5, EU ambassadors began discussing opening negotiations with Ukraine. The summit of EU leaders will take place on December 14-15.
The meeting of ambassadors is the beginning of preparations for the December summit, which will discuss not only the European integration of Ukraine, but also Moldova, Georgia, Bosnia and other countries. In the draft document “The European Council decides to open negotiations on membership with Ukraine and Moldova.”
However, on December 5, Reuters quoted an unnamed European diplomat as saying that agreeing on the content of the draft documents was “very, very difficult.”
Only Hungarian leader Orban has so far openly opposed the European Commission’s recommendation to begin negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico says his government “supports the European perspective of Ukraine and Moldova, but together with the countries of the Western Balkans.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schalenberg said in an interview with the Financial Times in November that EU leaders “cannot give preference to Ukraine” over Western Balkan countries.
Source: Racurs
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