EU leaders gather in Brussels for last summit of year

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – EU leaders are gathered in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit, with the Ukraine issue top on the agenda items.

The heads of state and governments will discuss several issues, including long-term budgets, support for Ukraine, sanctions, and the situation in the Middle East.

On Ukraine, the leaders will discuss €50 billion (about $63.3 billion) in aid and the start of accession talks with the EU.

Efforts to persuade Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has expressed opposition to starting the talks, are ongoing.

According to EU sources, European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are meeting with Orban to talk about Ukraine ahead of the summit.

"We cannot accept any blackmailing… we have to find a decision together," Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said at the doorstep of the two-day summit.

Michel said a "pivotal" European Council is ahead of them, and that now is "the time for decision-making."

"I call on you all to come equipped with a spirit of compromise, a sense of collective responsibility, with the Union’s interests and values at the forefront of your minds," he said in a statement on Wednesday.