The EU has started processing Ukraine’s application for membership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the application yesterday. EU enlargement divides opinions among member states.
BRUSSELS EU-Ukraine relations entered a new phase on Monday, with President Zelensky signing Ukraine’s application for EU membership. Ukraine hopes to become a member of the Union through an accelerated special procedure.
Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleban says the EU should accept Ukraine as a full member without delay.
– Historical times require big historical decisions that can change the course of events, Kuleba writes in twitter.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi emphasized the importance of membership in his video speech to the European Parliament.
– The European Union will be much stronger with us. And without you, Ukraine is alone.
The EU has started processing the application
The EU is about to start processing Ukraine’s application for membership. The first step is to determine whether Ukraine meets the criteria for an official candidate country. The Commission will assess the applications at the request of the Council of Member States.
The President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyenin according to Ukraine is welcome to the European Union. However, the road to membership is a long one.
– The EU and Ukraine are closer than ever. We have a long way to go. We need to end the war and we need to talk about the next steps, von der Leyen said in the European Parliament.
Only after the Commission’s assessment will a position be taken on whether negotiations should be opened with the applicant country. Unanimity shall be required for the opening of negotiations.
Speeding up the process requires political agreement between member states. It is possible that Ukraine’s application will be on the agenda at next week’s EU summit.
EU enlargement divides opinions
Enlargement is also more widely divided in the EU. Negotiations with the current EU candidate countries have been slow.
The key question is whether the candidate countries meet the EU’s demanding criteria in terms of democracy, the economy and the functioning of institutions.
Accelerating Ukraine’s accession process on geopolitical grounds is likely to have an impact on negotiations with Albania, northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Turkey is also an official EU candidate country. However, negotiations with Turkey have been frozen for a long time.