EU member states are divided over how quickly Ukraine should be allowed to join Denmark and the Netherlands, which are considered the most reluctant.
Some are concerned that it will take years before reforms are made to ensure it meets membership requirements. Emmanuel Macron suggested it could take a decade before Ukraine is ready to join.
Other governments are concerned that Kyiv is not seen as ahead of the Western Balkan countries, which are already candidate countries.
The next steps to join the block
The EU is expected to call for broad institutional and democratic reforms, including human rights guarantees, as part of the bloc’s four-step process.
Ukraine has completed the first stage of application, when a country answers questions to demonstrate how close it is to the membership criteria.
The next step is the granting of candidate status, followed by lengthy membership negotiations and a process of adopting EU law before accession.
When a country completes reforms, an accession treaty is signed. The membership is then put to a final vote by the existing Member States, which must support it unanimously.
In reality, the war in Ukraine will have to end before negotiations with the EU begin, because, among other reasons, it is not clear at the moment what the country’s borders will be in the end.
Obtaining Ukraine’s candidate status would be unthinkable before the invasion that revived a dying EU enlargement policy.
Kyiv agreed to an agreement with the EU to grant preferential access to its market and visa-free travel, but did not apply to join the bloc, which was seen as a very distant prospect.
Ms von der Leyen said the association agreement meant that Ukraine had adopted approximately 70 per cent of EU rules and standards because of the treaty, but warned that important work lay ahead.
“The whole process is based on merit. So it goes according to the book and therefore progress depends entirely on Ukraine. It is Ukraine that holds it in its hands and what could be better to shape your own future?” Mrs. von der Layen. ,
The last country to join the EU was Croatia in 2013. There are five candidate countries. Turkey applied in 1987, but the membership process has long been on the ice.
Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Serbia applied to join between 2004 and 2009.
Albania and Northern Macedonia have met the conditions for starting accession talks in 2020, with a view to joining in 2025.
But negotiations have been blocked by Bulgaria over an unclear dispute over whether or not the language spoken in northern Macedonia is a regional version of Bulgarian.
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