Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, expressed her opinion that Ukraine and Moldova, which have applied for full membership to the EU, should be given “candidate country status”; He said Georgia’s application should be “considered”.
The European Commission gave the green light to the EU membership of Ukraine and Moldova, one day after the three big countries of Europe, France, Germany and Italy, the leaders of Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi, and the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, visited Kiev. .
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission, announced at the press conference that they recommended to the European Council that Ukraine and Moldova “give the status of candidate country to the European Union”. “The Commission recommends to the Council that firstly Ukraine be given a European perspective, and secondly that it should be given candidate status. This will happen, of course, provided that the country carries out a number of important reforms,” the German politician said. “We know that the Ukrainians are ready to die to defend their European aspirations. We want them to live with us for the European dream,” von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen, stating that Moldova is also a “true European passenger” at the press conference, said, “Moldova is a true reformer, supports the fight against corruption and is European. It still has a long way to go. But we think it has the potential to meet the criteria.”
The President of the EU Commission said for Georgia, which applied at the same time as these two countries, “We need to evaluate how it will fulfill a certain number of conditions without being granted candidacy status.”
This opinion of the EU Commission, which made recommendations without making a final decision, will be decided unanimously by the leaders of 27 member states, after being discussed at the European Union heads of state and government summit to be held on 23-24 June.
“I am grateful for this historic decision”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he welcomes Von der Leyen’s recommendation. Zelenski tweeted: “I am grateful to Ursula von der Leyen and every member of the European Commission for this historic decision. It is also a step that will bring us closer to victory over Russia. Next week, we will also be at the meeting of EU leaders. I expect positive results,” he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba also said, “History is being made in Europe. We salute the positive opinion of the EU Commission, which concluded that Ukraine should be granted EU candidate status before the EU summit next week. This is a living proof of European leadership and Ukraine’s further development.” It will be a great support for their next transformation”.
The European Commission expresses its opinion about a country that has applied for candidacy for the first time in such a fast time. The advisory opinion of the Commission on Ukraine and Moldova is considered as an indicator of the support given by the Europeans to these two countries.
However, although the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium are not against the candidacy of Ukraine and Moldova, they oppose granting candidacy status so quickly to a country that has applied for full membership.
Emphasis on anti-corruption
Emphasizing that EU membership status is a dynamic process that can “go forward, stop and even go backwards”, Commission President Von der Leyen warned that “This candidacy status depends on the country that receives it, and our expectations are very clear”.
Von der Leyen also touched upon the issue of “fight against corruption”, which the EU focuses on the most, and underlined that the Ukrainian government has made progress in this regard, but the digitization of administrative procedures is important for this fight.
Pointing out that the Ukrainian people chose Zelensky “because they wanted to fight corruption”, Von der Leyen said that Ukraine has passed a law against the power of oligarchs and they hoped this law would yield results.
In the corruption list published by Transparency International in its 2021 report, Ukraine ranks 122nd among 180 countries. This ranking is positive progress for Ukraine, which ranked 142nd in 2014; but still far behind its EU neighbors. In the same report, the country behind the EU member states is Bulgaria, which is ranked 78th.
The process will take a long time.
The accession negotiations between Ukraine and Moldova will take a long time. French President Emmanuel Macron, the EU Term Presidency, stated that “this process could take decades”. Volodymyr Zelenski, who has not given up on his country’s claim to become a member of the EU despite all the reservations in the EU since the beginning of the war with Russia, assured the EU leaders that they are “ready to work to become a full member of the union”.
Following the approval of EU leaders in Brussels, the EU Commission will announce a “pre-accession strategy plan”. With the announcement of this plan, the full membership process will begin. In this plan, “required reforms for integration and financial support program for these reforms” will be determined in the process of accession to Ukraine.
Once this phase is completed, again with the approval of 27 members, the accession process for Ukraine and Moldova will officially begin. Just as with Turkey, the desired reforms in each area will be determined under headings, and negotiations will be started one by one, by heading.
Personal victory for Zelensky
Heads of state and government of Germany, France, Italy and Romania went to Kiev and expressed their support for Ukraine’s candidacy. President of Ukraine Zelensky, on the other hand, tells his European interlocutors that “they need a political horizon that will give meaning to the heavy sacrifices undertaken by the Ukrainian people in the name of the values that form the basis of Europe” and that EU membership is an “ideal goal” that will make these sacrifices meaningful.
Although the European Commission’s statement in favor of Ukraine is advisory, it represents a personal victory for Zelenski. Zelenski, who succeeded in bringing the 4 leaders of the EU to the warring Kiev, is also aware of the difficulties of the accession process.
The EU accession process of Ukraine, which is at war and many of its cities have been completely destroyed, may be aggravated by the conditions of war, and the consequences of the war may make the process even more difficult. In the history of the EU, no country with such fragile and weak institutions has embarked on such a difficult journey.
Seeing this challenge, the President of the EU, French President Macron, brought the proposal of the “European political community”, which means a “waiting room” for the countries that want to become a member, in Strasbourg on 9 May. This idea was received coldly by countries wishing to join the EU, especially Ukraine. EU leaders will gather the EU-Western Balkans summit before the summit in Brussels on 23-24 June and feel the pulse.