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.
Updated
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.
