Talks Move Onto Enlargement w/Hungary Veto Looming

European Union leaders have moved onto discussions surrounding the enlargement of the Union at the EUCO summit in Brussels according to Politico. This is likely to prove the most contentious of issues. with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban having stated repeatedly that Ukraine does not yet qualify to begin accession talks due to rule of law concerns.

• On the negotiations regarding the EU budget, Politico reports that "...there is broad agreement ...on ...proposed cuts to the bloc’s midterm budget review, which would slash additional contributions from member states from €66 billion to €22.5 billion until 2027.[...] The thorniest issue is Orbán’s threat to veto €17 billion of grants and €33 billion of loans to Kyiv .... Orbán did not raise objections to the budget top-up but stressed that extra funding to Ukraine should come from outside the budget,"
• Throughout the course of the day the prospect of this two-day summit dragging into the weekend have risen substantially. While last-minute, late-night deals are a specialty of EUCO summits, the entrenched positions of both sides on enlargement, as well as the myriad other issues to be discussed (migration, security) could see a marathon session.