EU Parliament: Strasbourg, a debate on the European Council and the situation of funds for Hungary

One of the last plenary sessions (15 to 18 January) of the European Parliament will be starting in Strasbourg today: actually, citizens will be called to renew the members of the Assembly from 6 to 9 June. On Wednesday morning, the MEPs will discuss the results of December’s European Council and will linger on topics and goals of February’s special one, as well as the situation in Hungary, with presidents Charles Michel (Council) and Ursula von der Leyen (Commission). During the meeting of 14 and 15 December 2023, among all the topics they discussed, the heads of state or government agreed that they would start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and they would grant candidate status to Georgia. The president of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, had commented: “This is a proud moment for Europe. For Ukraine. For Moldova. For everyone fighting for our values. For everyone looking to Europe as a beacon of hope. We kept our promises. We made history.” In addition, at the pre-Christmas summit the heads of state or government had reaffirmed their commitment to the Western Balkans’ EU membership prospects and called for their accession process to be accelerated. However, the leaders failed to reach agreement on the mid-term review of the EU’s long-term 2021-2027 budget (multiannual financial framework, MFF) and a €50 billion financial aid package for Ukraine. Discussions will continue during a special European Council on 1 February 2024. During the joint debate on the European Council meetings, MEPs will also discuss the situation in Hungary (which opposed to giving more aids to Kiev) and frozen EU funds. A resolution will be put to a vote on Thursday.
Valentina Bombelli