European Commission unlocks €10bn for Hungary despite criticism from MEPs – as it happened

Commission says Hungary has fulfilled set of judiciary reforms while critics say funds could have been unlocked to persuade Orban to stop blocking Ukraine-related decisions

The leaders of major political groups in the European parliament have sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, outlining their objections to unfreezing EU funds for Hungary.

In the letter, seen by the Guardian, the political group presidents wrote:

We would like to express our deep concern as regards the imminent positive assessment of the Hungarian judicial reforms and their fulfilment of the four judicial milestones set out in the horizontal enabling condition under the Common Provisions Regulation.

In our view, the horizontal enabling condition referring to the independence of the judiciary has not been fulfilled.

We are most concerned about the implementation requirement regarding the strengthening of the National Judicial Council.

We need to live up to our commitments on Ukraine and continue to be a reliable and strong partner. We must provide Ukraine with continued and sustainable political, financial and military support and, in particular, come to an agreement on providing 50bn for its long term stability.

We also have to agree to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, thereby giving it a necessary signal and bringing it yet closer to our European family.

A pivotal European Council lies ahead of us. Now is the time for decision-making. I call on you all to come equipped with a spirit of compromise, a sense of collective responsibility, with the union's interests and values at the forefront of your minds.