Berlin, 17 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has praised an unusual intervention by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the EU summit this week, in a move that enabled the start of accession talks for Kiev.

"What Chancellor Olaf Scholz did at the summit to remove the threat of a Hungarian veto will go down in history as an act of German leadership in the interests of Europe," Kuleba told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

He added: "I can only hope that this also signifies a broader and irreversible turnaround in Germany's attitude towards leading efforts to resolve the most complicated issues."

The dispute over the start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine was deadlocked until the summit because Hungary was blocking the talks.

Scholz suggested that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán leave the meeting temporarily in order to allow the other heads of state and government to reach the necessary consensus.

This meant that the Hungarian leader could stick to his stance on the negotiations - which he described as "completely senseless" - without blocking them.

For his part, Scholz said after the summit that the diplomatic sleight of hand was carried out "by mutual agreement in accordance with our rules."

"This is not something that should always be done," he added.

Photo: MIA archive