EU leaders greenlight opening accession talks with Ukraine, Moldova

**This is a developing story.

In a historic step, EU leaders agreed on Thursday (14 December) to open EU accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova and grant candidate status to Georgia, despite an earlier threat from Hungary to veto the deal.

“The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine & Moldova,” European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X.

EU leaders also decided to grant candidate status to Georgia, and said the bloc would open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina “once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is reached”. The Council has “invited the Commission to report by March with a view to taking such a decision”.

“A clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent,” Michel said.

The step comes amid expectations that Hungary would be the main stumbling block to a deal on the EU’s €50 billion financial aid package to keep Ukraine’s war-torn economy afloat and the political decision to open formal accession talks with the country.

The move is likely to boost the bloc’s fledgling enlargement process and irritate Moscow.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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