According to the publication, this decision will be formalized at a quick summit of EU leaders, but then Ukraine will have to wait for many years to join the European Union.
All 27 states of the European Union intend to officially secure Ukraine’s candidate status, according to Bloomberg after the EU meeting on Monday.
The publication reminds that earlier the European Commission recommended granting this status to Ukraine, which is the first but symbolic step on the long path to EU membership. The European Commission is convinced that Kyiv has yet to address many issues related to the rule of law, justice, and the fight against corruption.
EU leaders will meet in Brussels on June 23-24, Bloomberg sources believe that the meeting will give the green light to the European Commission’s recommendations.
“It is time to acknowledge that the future of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia lies in the EU,” – European Council President Charles Michel wrote in a letter, inviting leaders to the summit. – “I will offer you candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova.”
According to Bloomberg, during the meeting of ambassadors, representatives of several EU countries said that they were interested in ensuring that potential new candidates do not have privileges compared to the countries of the Western Balkans, whose progress towards membership has stopped. In particular, Hungary is one of the few countries that has asked Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the European Union.
In response, the Commission made it clear that the accession process would follow the same criteria and rules for all candidates. There is no accelerated path to membership, this procedure can take more than ten years, as was the case with Croatia. It became the last country to join the European Union, and its application was considered 10 years before it officially became a member in 2013.
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanyshyna also confirmed this information, stating that as of June 20, all EU countries support granting Ukraine candidate status.
What Ukraine needs to do to join the EU
Bloomberg listed the proposed steps that Kyiv will have to take in order to join the European Union. These include the following activities:
- introduction of legislation on the procedure for selection of judges of the Constitutional Court;
- completion of the integrity check of candidates for various judicial bodies;
- strengthening the fight against corruption, in particular by appointing a new head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office;
- bringing anti-money laundering legislation in line with the Group’s standards for developing financial measures to combat money laundering;
- implementation of anti-oligarchic legislation;
- adoption of a new law on the media that complies with EU directives to prevent the use of media for self-interest;
- completion of reforms of the legal framework of national minorities.
The Commission plans to monitor Ukraine’s compliance with these conditions and intends to report on progress in 2023.
It will be recalled that on June 17, EC President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the European Commission had recommended granting Ukraine candidate status. The recommendation of the European Commission states that Ukraine is a European state that has ‘proved its commitment to the values on which the European Union is founded,’ and Ukrainian society is ‘bright and active.’
Earlier it was reported that Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands opposed granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership.
