Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuania's president, said when arriving at the summit that he thinks we have the chance historical chance to take very bold decision regarding the start of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. This is in our hands we can take it but we can waste it, he said, adding that the people of Ukraine and Moldova deserve positive outcome. He added: My point is: if we will spoil, or if we will abuse the unanimity principle, there will be more and more voices asking why we still take the decisions on the consensus basis. So for my country, which is benefiting from the unanimity principle, because this is a small-sized country, like Hungary for example, it's very important to keep this principle. But we should not abuse this principle and use this very correctly and very fairly.
The European Council has deliberately placed the most complicated issues at the top of the agenda: the proposed 50bn for Ukraine, followed by enlargement. Expect these topics to take most of the day with all eyes on Hungary but also other states that are looking for assurances that Ukraine is not simply being fast tracked into the EU.If the 27 members cannot unanimously agree on the fund for Ukraine, 26 member states are prepared to find an alternative mechanism to provide the money - but the preference is very much to do it through the EU with checks and balances on disbursements and expenditure already built in.Following the Ukraine facility comes the issue of enlargement, then the revision of the bloc's seven-year budget, known as the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework.
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