Ukraine EU candidacy: what the country will need to achieve before becoming a Member State
Standards to become a EU Member States are set in the 1993 "Copenhagen criteria". Although Ukraine recently became a candidate country, a lot remains to be done before full membership is granted.
The European Council of the 23 and 24 June agreed to grant Ukraine and Moldova the statute of EU candidate countries. They join Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey, who have been candidates for some years already.
But the war-torn country will have to start a lot of reforms to be granted the much-desired EU Member State status. It starts with implementing a certain number of rules, also called the “Copenhagen criteria”, named after the 21 and 22 June 1993 Council meeting in the Danish capital, which drafted this cannon.
What are these criteria, and where does Ukraine stands in adopting them? How long will Ukraine take before entering the prestigious club of the European Union?
The Copenhagen criteria
The June 1993 Council1 stated that newcomers should respect a few rules to be admitted to the EU. First of all, a candidate must have “stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and respect for and protection of minorities2”. The EU requires also “a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces in the EU”, and that the nation has “the ability to take on and implement effectively the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic, and monetary union”.
During the application process, the European Commission monitors the candidate's efforts to adopt the EU’s standards and legislation. The Commission regularly informs the European Parliament and the European Council on the progress.
Where does Ukraine stand?
Ukraine’s accession to the EU will not be easy nor fast. First of all, the country must find a way to end its war with Russia. That is not a choice it can make alone. This is the biggest obstacle to the completion of its candidacy. Without peace, Ukraine will have a hard time justifying having stable institutions guaranteeing the rule of law, especially if the eastern parts of the country are under martial law - or even occupation.
This issue was sent to the background as Russia invaded the country, but it remains a plague in Ukraine’s political and business spheres. In fact, corruption played an important role in the current situation, as most of its former leaders were puppets of Putin.
Fun fact: Servant of the People, the TV show that made Zelenskyy famous, the main character - played by Volodymyr himself - is elected on an anti-corruption program3.
“That said,” POLITICO reported, “the country had been working aggressively to adopt the EU’s laws and standards, collectively known as the acquis, for about eight years, ever since it signed a political association agreement and a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with Brussels.4”
According to officials, 70% of the acquis has been adopted by Ukraine. Most recently for instance, Ukraine ratified the Istambul convention that aims at preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
How long will it take?
The accession time varies strongly between countries. It took Sweden and Finland three years to join the Union, and Cyprus and Malta more than 13.
The answer to this question will lie in the conclusion of the war, and of the efforts put by both sides, EU and Ukraine, to bring this relationship to the conclusion of the candidate status.
For your information, let me add here the conclusions of the June 1993 Council meeting.
Servant of the People’s page on Wikipedia
Big deal: What does EU candidate status actually mean for Ukraine?, POLITICO Europe