The European Commission will prepare general framework conditions for the start of negotiations on Ukraineʼs accession to the European Union in mid-March.
This was announced by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference in Kyiv.
The EU has begun the process of screening Ukrainian legislation for compliance with European law and has promised to provide a general framework for negotiations, while Ukraine is expected to implement the recommendations of the European Commission.
The other day, Ursula von der Leyen stated that the framework conditions will be ready after the European elections, that is, at the beginning of summer. She justified this by the fact that there are different negotiating positions, which need time to agree.
The negotiating framework sets out guidelines and principles for accession negotiations with each candidate country. The European Commission develops a draft negotiation framework, EU member states adopt it, and the President of the EU Council presents it at the beginning of the accession negotiations.
When will we become a member of the EU?
This will happen only after Ukraine fulfills all requirements and fully implements all European standards.
There are various examples in the history of EU enlargement. Finland applied in 1992, and already in 1995 it became a member of the European Union. Poland applied in 1994 and joined the EU 10 years later. The last country to join the European Union is Croatia. It applied in 2003 and became a new member of the EU in 2013.
There are also countries that still remain candidates for admission. These are four Balkan countries: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Turkey has the same status. But in all these countries the process is stalled. Turkey does not meet the requirements of the EU at all and shows no desire to join it. In Serbia, the majority of the population does not want to join the European Union, and the country itself has close ties with Russia. Albania has not even started accession negotiations, and in Montenegro, with the change of government, the foreign policy orientation is also changing — sometimes towards the EU, then towards Serbia. North Macedonia is doing the most to join the European Union, but its progress is being blocked by its neighbors. First Greece demanded to change the name — and the Macedonians did it, now Bulgaria demands from North Macedonia to recognize that its people and language have Bulgarian roots and come from Bulgaria.
The most important thing is that after receiving candidate status, everything depends on the Ukrainian authorities. She received a clear list of reforms that must be implemented, and society has the opportunity to control this process. In addition, the candidate status will mean access to financial funds of the European Union — in fact, the EU itself will provide money for reforms. One thing can be said for sure: the sooner Ukraine reforms, the sooner it can become a member of the EU.
- On December 14, 2023, EU leaders agreed to start negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the European Union.