Brussels recommends that Ukraine should be a candidate for EU membership, subject to conditions
The European Commission on Friday recommended that the EU-27 first grant Ukraine a "European perspective" and, secondly, give it the status of "candidate" to join the EU club, if the country carries out "important reforms".
This was announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference to announce the results of the report carried out on an accelerated basis after Kiev formally applied to join the European Union (EU).
She also announced that they propose that Moldova should first have a "European perspective" and then "candidate" status if it fulfils certain conditions, but recommended that Georgia should remain in the first stage and its situation should be reassessed before recommending it as a candidate.
The decision on whether to consider a country a candidate and to start negotiating its entry into the Union is in any case up to the EU-27, and by unanimity.
"Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with the European dream," she said.
Von der Leyen explained that "we propose candidate status and we know that afterwards we have to work on the reforms that have been detailed", so that "the whole accession process is a dynamic process that can move forward or backward at different speeds. It depends on the country".
She said that the EU enlargement process is "dynamic", and that it is not achieved with "pre-established deadlines or steps that cannot be undone once they have been taken".
Von der Leyen said that the three assessments were made "carefully" taking into account the merits of the three countries and on the basis of the Copenhagen and Madrid criteria, which "establish the political and economic conditions, as well as the capacity to prosper in our competitive internal market".
She stressed that, despite the war in Ukraine, Brussels "has applied the Commission's rigorous criteria in assessing these accession applications".
For his part, Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Varhelyi denied that EU officials had filled in the forms for Kiev's membership application. All three candidates, he said, had received technical assistance from the Commission.
The future of Ukraine is "in their hands", whether they move forward on their European path, stagnate or turn back, said Von der Leyen, who insisted that the accession process is "dynamic" and therefore depends on the pace of "reforms" by the candidates.
In the case of Ukraine, the Commission considers that the country has "clearly" demonstrated its "aspiration" and "commitment" to "live up to European values and standards", and that its path towards the EU had already been embarked upon before the war.
"Ukraine deserves a European perspective. It should be welcomed as a candidate country, with the understanding that there is important work to be done. The whole process is based on merit. It goes according to the rules and therefore progress depends entirely on Ukraine," Von der Leyen stressed.
As for Moldova, the German politician pointed out that "it still has a long way to go", as "its economy and public administration, in particular, require major improvements, but "as long as the country's leaders stay the course, we believe," she said, "that the country has the potential to live up to the demands".
On Georgia's application, Von der Leyen said that, despite having the same "potential" as Ukraine and Moldova, as well as "strengths", notably the market orientation of its economy and a strong industry, the country needs "to unite politically to design a clear path towards structural reform and the European Union".
