Charles Michel

The leaders of the 27 European Union countries sealed a deal on Feb. 1 to provide Ukraine with a new 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) support package despite Hungary's weeks of threats to veto the move.

European Council President Charles Michel announced the agreement about only an hour into the leaders' summit in Brussels.

Marking a significant milestone, the euro commemorates its 25th anniversary since its inception. Introduced initially in 11 countries, the single European currency has grown to encompass approximately 350 million users across 20 countries in the eurozone. Bulgaria eyes becoming the 21st member, intending to join the currency union early next year.

Day 660 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

In a joint letter to the European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrel, the top diplomats of Italy, France and Germany have called on the union to impose ad hoc sanctions against Hamas and its supporters, The Guardian has reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the EU and China must address "imbalances and differences" between them.

"China is the EU's most important trading partner," von der Leyen said at the start of the Beijing summit, "but there are clear imbalances and differences that we need to overcome."

European leaders met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday for talks dominated by divisions between the bloc and its largest economic partner over everything from trade to the war in Ukraine.

China said Wednesday European Union export policies towards Beijing do not "make sense", on the eve of a high-level summit in the Chinese capital.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Tuesday, ahead of an annual EU-China summit, that Europe won't tolerate its soaring trade imbalance with China forever.

While the president of the European Commission stressed that EU states would prefer negotiations to a trade war she left an implied threat of protectionist measures on the table.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called on European Union leaders to refrain from making decisions on initiating negotiations for Ukraine's membership and withholding financial aid at next week's summit in Brussels. Orban's plea comes amidst the European Commission's proposal to consider Kyiv's readiness for negotiations, contingent on further obligations by March 2024.

"We had important meetings. I spoke with Charles Michel and with the presidents of Hungary, Poland, Belarus, as well as with people from the IMF," Vui said, adding that all the conversations were of special importance for Serbia.
"In order to solve all the problems, there must be order in international relations," he added.