Reinhard Bütikofer MEP (Greens/EFA), member of the European Parliament´s Foreign Affairs committee, comments on the outcome of the European Council: “The importance of the decision to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova cannot be overestimated. December 14, 2023 has become a historic date. The EU is proving itself at a time of great threat by President Putin’s reinvigorated Russian imperialism as an actor of change. The path of both countries to accession will certainly not be easy and it will still take some time. But the decision that has now been made ratifies on the part of the EU the new European reality that Ukraine has created through its successful self-defense against the Russian war of aggression: Ukraine is no longer a borderland between East and West. It is an integral part of a united and free Europe. In order for it to stay that way, material support, including military support, must now be increased again. There are ways to do this without being stopped by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Hesitation, on the other hand, would be very costly.”
