Remarks by President Charles Michel following the European Council meeting of 14 and 15 December 2023

Hello everyone. Russia's war against Ukraine has already profoundly transformed the European Union. We are anchored in our values of peace, security and prosperity. The summit that has just ended was a historic one, as we decided to open negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant Georgia candidate status. We also decided to open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, once a sufficient degree of compliance with the criteria is achieved. We will hold a meeting about this in March to take decisions.

This decision is a very powerful signal, a signal of hope, a signal of confidence. It is a clear choice that we are making because we are absolutely convinced that enlargement is an investment in peace, in security and in prosperity. This is a very powerful political message that we are sending to our European citizens, to the citizens of the candidate countries and to the rest of the world.

We also had on our agenda for this European summit the review of the multiannual financial framework. As you know, yesterday evening we made a decision. 26 member states decided to support the proposal for the review of the multiannual financial framework. 26 is not enough for a legally binding decision, and that's why we will revert to this early next year. We will have a special summit with the aim of convincing 27 member states to agree to this proposal. But the main topic is the fact that this proposal – firmly supported by 26 member states – is a very well-balanced proposal. On the one hand, this is a translation of a firm commitment by 26 member states to support Ukraine. An additional package of €50 billion. It's a clear message, a clear promise firmly supported by 26 member states.

This package takes into account some very important priorities for all of us at EU level: migration, the solidarity fund, and defence, for instance. And the importance of paying the NGEU interest because of our choices to invest together in our common future. That is why I would like to repeat again that I am extremely confident and optimistic that we will be in a position to fulfil our promises to support Ukraine with financial means in the weeks to come and I am confident that the decision will be formalised.

Lastly, this morning we held an extremely important and high-quality strategic discussion on the situation in the Middle East. This is our direct neighbourhood. The conflict there has given rise to great tragedy, pain and suffering and has many consequences in terms of the destabilisation and polarisation of our societies. That is why the EU must do all it can to try to be a voice that has an impact on the conflict. I would like to share a few points to sum up our work on this subject today. Firstly, I see a very strong consensus around the matter of ensuring Israel’s security. Israel has the right to its security, it has the right to exist. That is why we have repeatedly condemned and continue to condemn the terrorist attacks by Hamas. Hamas has chosen to use civilians as human shields. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all of the hostages, and we reiterate that Israel’s right to defend itself must be exercised in accordance with international law. We also reiterate that humanitarian support and access must be guaranteed. It is true that the members of the European Council have different views regarding the ideas of a humanitarian pause, advocated by some, and a humanitarian ceasefire, advocated by others. But that must not overshadow the essential point, which has two extremely important strands to it: our shared determination to strive to provide more humanitarian support and to call for more humanitarian access to be opened up. Moreover, many member states highlighted the very concrete initiatives taken in recent weeks to increase humanitarian access and humanitarian efforts, whether it be the hospital ships deployed in the region or, for example, on Cyprus's initiative, the possibility of opening a maritime corridor to make it easier for humanitarian supplies to reach the Gaza Strip. There were other examples, too.

But several Member States also stressed the importance of providing support and showing solidarity in the Strait of Hormuz to bolster maritime security. There has been an upsurge in violence by the Houthis, for example. It was also emphasised that providing security is an important area in which the EU can play a role, through its member states.

Alongside this humanitarian dimension, on which we are united, there is another dimension that is crucial – and this is not merely a reiteration of a traditional position of the EU – and that is support for the political process based on a two-state solution. This will require hard work from the European Union. Many very operational proposals were shared by my colleagues today, and these will inspire us in the days and weeks to come as we work with our partners to make progress on this matter. I will mention a few points: many quite rightly said that we must condemn the upsurge in violence and attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. It is clear that encouraging stability in this part of the region is extremely important. We also talked about what comes next: when the hostilities have ceased, how can we find a way of administering Gaza? How can we involve EU expertise, together with the UN and other partners, in this matter? And how can we work in a very operational way to ensure that the strengthening of the Palestinian Authority is taken into account, to ensure that the Palestinian Authority can be in a position to be legitimate and credible and to take on not only an administrative but also a political role? This is a matter of extreme importance. I have to say that this meeting of the European Council was useful in this regard, because our goal today was not to discuss written conclusions. We did that a few weeks ago. We established the framework, the political position of the European Union, with various pillars which I have presented. The aim this time was to strengthen the work on convergence to identify what unites us – and what unites us is extremely solid and extremely robust – and to work on the points where we need to try to have more political convergence with each other, in order to have even more of an impact in our engagement with the Arab countries, with the US, with all the countries in the region and, of course, with Israel and the representatives of the Palestinian Authority. That’s all on that subject.

And then, very briefly, the issue of migration. As you will have seen, it was an item on our agenda, as is regularly the case. We want to continue – as you can see in the conclusions – to step up our efforts on the external dimension, our engagement with third countries. We also included a rendez-vous clause in order to continue to reflect and work on the relationship between Türkiye and the European Union. We also strongly affirmed our commitment to the fight against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, intolerance, racism and xenophobia. This is another point on which we are united, and it is important to say so at a time like this.

And lastly, I cannot finish without turning to you, Pedro. Dear Pedro, I would like to thank you and your team, the Spanish team, for the huge efforts you have made for this great Spanish presidency. It has been a real pleasure to work with you, to cooperate with you, to cooperate with your team. It is impressive what you have achieved in recent weeks and months. But I know that you will have some difficult topics on the agenda for next week. You can count on us to support and continue to work with you and your team. Dear Pedro, I would really like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the excellent cooperation and the success of your presidency, which has had some very impressive results, which I'm sure you will be mentioning in just a moment.