The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 15th, 2023: EU Grants Ukraine Membership & Venezuela Agrees To Keep The Peace

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     European leaders managed to bypass Hungary and voted to open membership talks with Ukraine to join the European Union, despite failing to reach an agreement on additional financial and military aid. Amid the ongoing territorial dispute in South America, the leaders of Venezuela and Guyana met at a neutral site on Thursday, signaling their intention to keep the tense situation peaceful. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. In a historic and surprising move, European leaders managed to bypass Hungary and voted to open membership talks with Ukraine to join the European Union. Also, amid the ongoing territorial dispute in South America, the leaders of Venezuela and Guyana, met at a neutral site yesterday, signaling their intention to keep the tense situation peaceful. But first, our afternoon spotlight. We begin today in Brussels, where EU leaders were set for a major confrontation over whether to allow Ukraine to begin the process of joining the European family of nations.

Now, to the surprise of many, EU leaders announced just hours into the first day of the summit that they had reached an agreement to officially open membership talks with Ukraine to join the EU. Now, this was in the face of fierce opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban that many feared would derail Ukraine's hopes of joining. The decision is a major victory for Ukrainian President Zelensky, who's faced a number of recent setbacks regarding international support for the war effort. Zelenskyy held the decision as a, quote, victory for Ukraine a victory for all of Europe, a victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens, end quote.

We should note that this decision simply allows the process for Ukrainian membership to start, but the process itself, well, that's expected to take several years. Still, it represents a major achievement for Ukraine, particularly as they contend with dwindling war funds and bleak winter fighting against Russia. An exuberant Zelenskyy thanked members of the EU for maintaining their support for Ukrainian membership in the face of Hungarian opposition. Zelensky took to X on Thursday, saying, quote, I thank everyone who worked for this to happen and everyone who helped. I congratulate every Ukrainian on this day. History is made by those who don't get tired of fighting for freedom. So how did the EU pull off this successful vote? Well, member nations had to get

creative and employs some unconventional tactics to ultimately salvage the situation. As we discussed yesterday on the PDB, Orban, the head of Hungary, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has strongly opposed Ukraine's entry into the EU since it was proposed, opposition that he reiterated upon arriving at the summit in Brussels on Wednesday evening. Now, Hungary, however, was the only nation of the 27-member EU. that opposed Ukrainian membership. Instead of letting Hungary hold up the talks indefinitely, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz managed to convince Orban to leave the room

to allow the rest of the body to make a decision, and in his absence, the remaining 26 members of the EU unanimously granted Ukraine membership. Seriously, that's what it came down to. A significant decision impacting the future of Ukraine and the EU, was based on getting Orban to excuse himself for a potty break or to get a cup of coffee or whatever while the rest of the members voted in his absence. That's apparently how major global decisions are made. Now, after the decision was made, Orban still said that he believes letting Ukraine join the EU at this time is irrational and inappropriate, but he explained he no longer wanted

to block the clear will of the majority of the body. Orban further elaborated, saying, quote, 26 member states were adamant that this decision must be made, so Hungary decided that if 26 decide so, they should go on their own path, and Hungary does not wish to participate in this bad decision, end quote. The celebration of Ukraine's membership into the EU was dampened later in the day when Orban vetoed a critical $53 billion aid package for Ukraine. He'd long opposed to giving Ukraine any more financial assistance to repel the Putin regime, but members were hopeful that he could be swayed. Did we mention that Orban is a longtime Putin ally? On Wednesday, the EU granted Hungary access to 10 billion euros previously frozen over concerns that

Orban has been eroding democratic norms in Hungary. It appears that that concession wasn't enough to move the needle. European leaders said they will resume talks on the aid package early this coming year. Hungary's veto comes after Zelensky failed to sway U.S. lawmakers on a trip to Washington to act on a $61 billion aid package that's been stalled for weeks in Congress. Now, I suppose it would be churlish of me to point out just how feckless the European Union as an institution can be at times. Case in point, they're unable to approve a significant and important aid package for Ukraine as it enters a critical juncture in its efforts to repel Putin's invasion because member nation Hungary, led by a Putin ally,

is doing Putin's bidding in blocking the assistance. Coming up after the break, we'll provide an update on the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana and the progress made during a recent meeting between the two countries' leaders. I'll be right back. This is a Bose moment. You've been there. Small talk's going nowhere.

but then the Bose speaker kicks in. Music you can feel fills the room, and no more chat with Danny from accounts. Your life deserves music. Your music deserves Bose. Find your perfect product at Bose.com. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. I want to focus again on the territorial crisis in South America,

following Venezuela's recent referendum vote to annex a large portion of neighboring Guyana, and when I say large portion, I mean two-thirds of the country. Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and Guiana President Irfan Ali met face-to-face yesterday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to discuss the dispute amid mounting international concern that the situation could escalate into a military conflict. As a reminder, on December 3rd, Venezuela passed a referendum to annex the Eskibo region of Guyana, which contains rich

deposits of oil and minerals. Venezuela and President Nicholas Maduro escalated the situation, a couple days later, when he ordered Venezuela's state-owned companies to start exploring and exploiting the region. While the two leaders did not resolve any substantive issues at the meeting, they did agree to keep the situation peaceful, according to a report by Reuters. In a joint statement, the leaders said they would, quote, refrain whether by words or deeds from escalating any conflict, and added that they will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstance. Instead, foreign ministers of both countries will sit on a joint commission that will deliver a report to address solutions to the dispute in roughly three months.

The two leaders agreed to meet again in Brazil when the Joint Commission finishes its report. Guyana had argued for the dispute to be adjudicated by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands. However, that process would likely take years, and Maduro doesn't recognize the authority of the Court of Justice anyway. Maduro said, quote, it was a fruitful day in tense, at moments tense, where we could speak the truth, and he thanked Guiana President Ali for his frankness and willingness to have an ample dialogue. Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Ali reiterated that Venezuela has no right to their territory, saying the issue, quote, is not up for discussion, negotiation, or deliberation.

He noted that Guiana is not the aggressor and reserves the right to work with all our partners to ensure the defense of our country. Now, Venezuela's claims over the Esquibo region are rooted in a territorial dispute that goes back to Spanish colonial times. The region that Maduro wants to get his hands on constitutes again two-thirds of Giana's landmass, and it holds roughly one-sixthes. of the country's population. Exxon discovered massive deposits of oil in the region in 2015, which propelled Guyana's economy into one of the fastest growing in the world, and, of course, renewed Venezuela's interest in getting their hands on the territory.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday, 15 December. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back on Monday. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.