EU Commission recommends candidate status for Ukraine
Created: 06/18/2022, 06:03
The EU Commission is in favor of officially nominating Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for EU membership.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Ukraine wants to become a member of the EU.
The EU Commission has now spoken out in favor of appointing the country as a candidate country.
Update from June 17, 1:12 p.m
.: "The Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective," says EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
They want to enable the country to live the European dream.
That's what the leading German politician said in Brussels when presenting a recommendation to the 27 EU member states
(see first report)
.
Von der Leyen made a similar statement about Moldova, which according to an analysis by the commission should also be given candidate status.
Ukraine-News: EU Commission recommends candidate status
First notification of June 17
: Brussels - The EU Commission is in favor of officially nominating Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for accession to the European Union.
The dpa news agency learned this from commission circles.
The heads of state and government already want to discuss the issue at a summit meeting at the end of next week.
Among others, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron had endorsed the idea during their trip to Kyiv.
You can find out here what Ukraine's accession to the EU would mean for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine, which has a population of more than 40 million, applied for EU membership around three and a half months ago, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion.
Shortly thereafter, the small neighbor Moldova and Georgia in south-eastern Europe also submitted applications for membership.
Moldova recently had around 2.6 million inhabitants, Georgia around 3.7 million.
EU accession of Ukraine: Portugal and Netherlands against for the time being
The procedure now proposed by the EU Commission envisages giving Ukraine and Moldova the status of EU accession candidates.
At the same time, the authority believes that further progress in the accession process should be linked to specific conditions.
In both countries there are shortcomings in the area of the rule of law and in the fight against corruption.
Based on the Commission's recommendation, the EU states must now decide how to proceed.
The views of the governments on the subject have so far diverged widely.
According to diplomats, countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands consider the granting of candidate status to the three states in Eastern Europe to be premature and purely symbolic.
Another argument put forward by skeptics is that the EU, with its principle of unanimity in matters such as foreign and security policy, is already considered cumbersome.
They first call for internal reforms before opening the door to new members.
(dpa/frs)
