AFTER A DISAPPOINTING week in which it struggled to secure support in Washington, on December 14th Ukraine received some surprising good news from Brussels. The European Union agreed to open negotiations for the country to join the bloc.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will not imminently be sitting around the EU summit tables where such decisions are made. It will take several years, at least, for Ukraine to adopt the reforms needed to fulfil the EU’s exacting criteria to let in a new member. But the green light from the bloc’s 27 existing governments is a strong signal of their continued support for Ukraine’s war against Russia, and their commitment to help reconstruction after it.

There has long been consensus among 26 of the EU’s leaders that Ukraine should be upgraded from candidate status—granted in June 2022—to formally starting negotiations. Last month the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, recommended opening talks. The snag lay in Budapest. Viktor Orban, the autocratic Hungarian prime minister, had spent the last few weeks threatening to veto Ukraine’s progress, as every EU government can.

But perhaps not coincidentally, a €10bn ($11bn) slug of EU funds destined for Hungary that had been suspended over its deficient judiciary was released earlier this week. Mr Orban is said to have absented himself from the European Council room at the moment of the vote, thus tacitly acquiescing to the move, despite having said on his arrival in Brussels that he was still opposed.

Other countries have also moved closer to EU accession. Moldova, another place harried by Russia, will open formal talks along with Ukraine. Georgia has now been designated as a candidate for membership. And a slew of candidate states in the Western Balkans have been swept along by Ukraine’s momentum. Bosnia-Herzegovina will start its accession negotiations next spring if it is assessed to have made progress in converging with EU norms.

The news is not (yet) all good for Ukraine. Its government is also hoping for a four-year budgetary-support package worth €50bn, starting from January. The EU offered this in June, but has yet to agree on how to pay for it. Mr Orban also vowed to block this. He may again be induced to fold, but other governments object to a planned increase of the EU budget, of which the money for Ukraine is a part. The club’s strained finances—and those of some of its member states, such as Germany—could mean Ukraine receives money in dribs and drabs instead. A multi-year commitment would be better, if not essential.

Nonetheless, the mood was unexpectedly cheery at a summit that many feared would be riven by division and acrimony; one senior diplomat had predicted that the governments were going to have to try again in March. “This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens,” said Mr Zelensky on X (formerly Twitter).

Now the Americans have to do their bit. President Joe Biden’s proposed $61bn package for Ukraine is held up in Congress by the Republican leadership, with earlier allocations all but spent. Mr Zelensky seemed to make little progress when he visited America this week. Perhaps the EU’s move will help change some minds. ■