Ukraine officially candidate for EU membership after EU summit: Zelenskyj honors “historic moment”

Created: 06/24/2022, 06:12

By: Momir Takac

EU leaders vote to include Ukraine as a candidate country.

However, a positive vote does not mean that it will be accepted quickly.

• Rapid

  EU accession

  for

  Kiev

  ?: Ukraine also has to cope with a long admission process.

• Olaf Scholz

  : "Historical" meeting, chancellor openly promotes Ukraine's EU membership.

• EU summit:

  Ukraine and Moldova become candidate countries

• Zelenskyj

  praises decision:

  "Ukraine's future lies in the EU"

• This

  news ticker

  on the deliberations on Ukraine at the EU summit is constantly updated.

Update from June 23, 9:50 p.m.:

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) congratulated Ukraine and Moldova on being included in the group of EU accession candidates.

“Yes 27 times!” Scholz wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

“The European Council welcomes two new candidate countries to join the EU.

To good cooperation in the European family!”

The heads of state and government in Brussels had previously voted unanimously in favor of declaring the two countries to be candidate countries.

Scholz had promoted it days before the decision was made during a visit to Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy appreciates decision: "Ukraine's future lies in the EU"

Update from June 23, 9:20 p.m .:

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has recognized the granting of EU candidate status for his country as a “historic moment”.

"The future of Ukraine lies in the EU," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening.

At their summit in Brussels, the heads of state and government of the European Union had previously included Ukraine and Moldova, which had been attacked by Russia, among the candidate countries.

In the past few weeks, Zelenskyy had campaigned massively for the prospect of accession, also to boost the morale of his citizens.

EU summit: Ukraine and Moldova become candidate countries

Update from June 23, 8:30 p.m.:

The European Union has officially included Ukraine in the list of candidate countries.

In addition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his colleagues decided at an EU summit on Thursday to also grant Moldova the status of a candidate country, as Council President Charles Michel announced.

The Belgian spoke of a "historic moment".

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commented: "Today is a good day for Europe."

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With this step, the EU recognizes the efforts of the two countries to gain accession to the EU and wants to encourage them to continue on this path with determination.

In view of the Russian war against his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in particular had repeatedly called for such a message from the EU - also to show the more than 40 million citizens of his country that the fight for freedom and democracy is worthwhile.

Candidate status is not a guarantee of speedy admission to the EU.

According to a recommendation by the EU Commission, EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova should only begin once they have fulfilled further reform requirements.

It is about judicial reforms and a stronger fight against corruption.

Almost four months ago, shortly after the start of the Russian attack, Ukraine applied for admission to the EU.

Shortly thereafter, the small neighbor Moldova and Georgia in south-eastern Europe also submitted applications for membership.

Georgia, which has a population of around 3.7 million, will only be granted candidate status once it has met further reform requirements.

According to the EU Commission, it is currently significantly more unstable than Moldova, which has around 2.6 million inhabitants, and the Ukraine.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron at the EU summit in Brussels.

© Geert Vanden Wijngaert/dpa

EU summit: negotiations tougher than expected

Update from June 23, 8:10 p.m.:

At the EU summit on the prospects for Ukraine and Moldova, the consultations are proving to be tougher than initially expected.

According to several EU diplomats and officials, countries including Austria and Slovenia called for similar concessions to Western Balkan countries in Brussels on Thursday.

After a previous top-level meeting, they had expressed disappointment or anger at the lack of progress.

The EU must keep its promises to the Western Balkans, it said in Brussels.

Bosnia-Herzegovina in particular should be given candidate status as soon as possible.

Visa requirements could be abolished for residents of Kosovo.

The citizens of Kosovo are the only ones in the Western Balkans who still need visas to enter the Schengen area.

A quick summit decision in favor of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova was originally expected.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had also campaigned for a unanimous "yes" from the EU countries, but at the same time called for perspectives for the Western Balkans.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz: "Historical" Meeting - Campaigning for EU Accession

Update from June 23, 3:50 p.m .:

At the start of the EU summit in Brussels, Chancellor Olaf Scholz once again advocated making Ukraine a candidate for EU membership.

The SPD politician spoke on Thursday of a "historic" meeting of the heads of state and government, but also called for reforms in the European Union to enable the admission of new members.

The EU must make itself “enlargeable”.

This also includes lifting the principle of unanimity for some decisions.

The EU Commission has recommended that Ukraine and Moldova be officially declared candidate countries.

The 27 heads of state and government will decide on Thursday.

Approval is considered extremely likely.

Olaf Scholz at the EU summit in Brussels.

©Olivier Matthys

Update from June 23, 12:40 p.m .:

Shortly before the EU summit, the European Parliament called for Ukraine and neighboring Moldova to be recognized as official EU accession candidates.

A large majority of MEPs, in a non-binding resolution, called on the heads of state or government of the member countries to "grant candidate country status to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova without delay" at their summit in Brussels.

At the same time, however, the European Parliament emphasized that "there is no accelerated procedure for membership in the EU" and that accession "still" is a process that depends on the "implementation of reforms".

Ukraine-EU accession: EU summit wants to discuss candidate status

First report from June 23:

Brussels - Today is the day of the decision for Ukraine.

An EU summit will decide whether the country attacked by Russia will be granted EU candidate status.

The Commission had already issued a recommendation last Friday (June 17).

The vote must be unanimous among all 27 member states of the European Union.

And this seems to be the case.

"The European Council has decided to grant candidate country status to Ukraine and Moldova," reads the draft summit statement, available to AFP news agency.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously advocated granting Ukraine the status of an EU candidate - under certain conditions.

Ukraine EU accession: Faster EU accession for Kyiv?

- Procedure could be lengthy

But even if Ukraine were now granted the status of an EU candidate, that does not mean that the country will quickly become a full member - as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is demanding.

A drastic example is Turkey, whose accession process has already lasted 23 years.

North Macedonia has been waiting for 17 years.

Supporters of Ukraine demonstrate ahead of the EU summit in Brussels.

© picture alliance/dpa/AP |

Olivier Matthys

This is simply due to the high requirements and standards that every accession country has to meet.

Keyword Copenhagen criteria.

Every state that wants to join the European Union has to meet these requirements.

They consist of three pillars: The “political criterion” is about respect for human rights, institutional stability and a democratic and constitutional order.

Ukraine-EU accession: Candidates have to go through a lengthy admission process

The "economic criterion" is about a functioning market economy and the ability to withstand the competitive pressure within the EU internal market.

According to the German government, the "acquis criterion" is about "the ability to adopt the obligations and goals arising from EU membership as one's own".

In concrete terms, it means: adopting the common legal system, the "common acquis".

It usually takes years for an EU candidate country to prove that it meets all the criteria.

Russia's neighbor would have to fundamentally reform the political system, for example.

Corruption and a lack of the rule of law are also problems in Ukraine.

Ukraine-EU accession: MEP brings up associated membership

Because of the length of the process, the European policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on RTL/ntv advocates “an intermediate model, for example in the form of a so-called associated membership”.

"That means: The state would not yet have the right to vote, the state would not have any other options, but would probably already be part of it," said Gunther Krichbaum.

But above all the ongoing Ukraine conflict should prevent special treatment.

As long as the war rages on, it will be difficult to assess the state of Ukraine in terms of the Copenhagen criteria.

But all this is pie in the sky.

The first thing to do is to reach unanimity at the summit.

Austria, Portugal and Denmark had previously expressed concerns about Ukraine's accession to the EU.