Spanish Prime Minister wants EU negotiations with Ukraine to start by the end of year

Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain, has stated that he hopes to start the negotiations about the expansion of the EU with Ukraine by 31 December, when the chairmanship of Spain in the EU Council ends. Source: European Pravda with reference to Reuters Details: "I kicked off the Spanish presidency with a trip to Kyiv and I hope to close it with the opening of accession negotiations with this country, now that the European Commission's report is known," Sanchez said at the plenary meeting of the European Parliament.

Sanchez added that "the time has come for the EU to open its doors and integrate Ukraine, and also Moldova and the countries of the West Balkans".

Background: Emmanuel Macron, President of France, reiterated before the EU summit that he supports the start of Ukraine's EU membership talks along with internal EU reform. But he added that the discussions at the summit will be crucial. Hungary threatens to block key decisions on the agenda for 14-15 December for Kyiv: the start of EU accession negotiations and the approval of EUR50 billion in European aid in the form of subsidies and loans.

Balazs Orban, political advisor to Hungary's PM, claimed that Budapest is ready to lift the veto on the approval of EUR50 billion in macro-financial aid for Ukraine if the EU unfreezes all Hungarian money from its funds.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that if the EU does not approve the decision to start accession negotiations with Ukraine due to the Hungarian blockade, it would imply that Russian President Vladimir Putin directly imposed a veto on this decision.

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