Orban Writes To EUCO Pres Ahead Of Summit; Opposes Ukraine Accession Talks

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has written to European Council President Charles Michel once again threatening to scupper any agreement at the upcoming 14-15 Dec EUCO summit in Brussels if the Union does not remove text regarding the start of accession talks with Ukraine from the agenda.

• Politico has obtained a letter from Orban to Michel, stating that "There are expectations that on this occasion the European Council can and must decide on starting accession negotiations with Ukraine and on the revision of the MFF for 2021-27.[...]The Commission's recent proposal related to the accession process of Ukraine makes the end of the EU's enlargement policy as an objective and merit-based instrument. [...]It is clear that unity cannot be achieve on the basis of the Commission's proposal..."
• Permanent representatives meet in Brussels today at 1730CET (1130ET, 1630GMT) to finalise the agenda for the leaders' summit.
• Michel will leave the high-profile China-EU summit in Beijing taking place 7-8 Dec in order to seek agreement with EU leaders, while French President Emmanuel Macron will host Orban in Paris in an effort to get the Hungarian PM to moderate his stance.
• As Politico notes, there is uncertainty in Brussels as to whether Orban would step back from a veto if EU funds were unfrozen or if he is already too committed to the stance that he cannot change his view meaning Ukraine talks will be vetoed come what may.