EU mockingly promises and Ukraine hopes to join EU
2023.02.02 03:10
EU mockingly promises and Ukraine hopes to join EU
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Thursday’s arrival in Kyiv of more than a dozen high-ranking EU officials is a high-level show of support in light of new military aid pledges as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine draws closer.
Despite the EU’s support for Ukraine and its democratic and economic reforms, Kyiv’s efforts to quickly join the EU of 27 nations are likely to fail.
Here are the reasons and specifics regarding EU membership:
Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, has stated that he wants the country to join the European Union within the next two years, and a liberal Belgian EU lawmaker has teased that he dreams of it happening within the next five years. In fact, that probably will take much longer.
In 2013, Croatia became the last nation to officially apply to join the EU. Poland, a neighbor of Ukraine, waited 20 years before joining in 2004.
Ukraine made an application to join shortly after the invasion on February 24, 2022, and in June of last year, the EU officially granted it the status of a candidate, which was seen as a bold geopolitical move.
Ukraine must meet a number of requirements before being admitted, including its economic capacity to withstand increased competition and political stability, which includes democratic institutions that guarantee the respect of the rule of law and human rights.
It will be necessary for Ukraine to adapt its national law to numerous EU legal standards, including those pertaining to health, labor, and the environment.
The bloc acknowledges that Ukraine has made progress up to this point, but it emphasizes that more must be done to establish a credible record of fighting endemic corruption.
Beyond that, the EU emphasizes the need for necessary reforms to guarantee that Ukrainian courts are free of political interference and that minorities’ rights are respected.
Although the EU does not specifically prohibit a nation in war from joining, the bloc does not wish to import territorial conflicts. However, despite Nicosia’s inability to control the entire island since Turkey’s invasion in 1974, it did allow Cyprus to join in 2004.
As President Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on critics following a 2016 attempted coup undermined democracy and strained ties with the bloc, Turkey, a NATO ally, has seen its own EU membership negotiations fall apart in recent years.
After decades of Turkey seeking a formal start to its EU membership bid, the negotiations began in 2005 and coincided with Erdogan’s first economic reforms in power in 2003, which made Ankara an important emerging market economy and trade partner.
To admit a new peer, each EU nation must consent. In addition to meeting the intricate requirements, Ukraine would need to overcome opposition from several founding states, including France and the Netherlands, to further extend the bloc to the east.
Since 2018, EU enlargement talks have been at a standstill because the current members cannot agree on whether to accept Albania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, or Serbia as additional official candidates.
The bloc is also divided on whether to give Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Georgia, other potential candidates, formal candidate status.
With 44 million people, Ukraine would be the fifth largest country in the EU, after Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. As a result, it would have a significant impact on the decisions made by the bloc.
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