Topic: European Union Leaders to Grant Ukraine Candidate

In a move that strikes a blow to Putin's ambition to remove Ukraine from the map of Europe, Ukraine is to be granted candidate status to the European Union. With 529 votes to 45, along with abstentions, the European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution calling for the heads of the respective nation states (who hold their own summits today and tomorrow) to grant EU status to Ukraine "without delay."

An EU with a Purpose

In 2016 the world was shocked when in a surprise result, the United Kingdom, a nuclear power and the second largest economy in the EU, voted to leave the European Union. Doomsayers heralded the vote as the end of the European dream, an end to multilateralism and declared that the collapse of the EU was inevitable. At the time, it did not seem too bold a conclusion to arrive at. The far-right were on the rise across the continent and years of economic turmoil and refugee crisis's had left the block racked with division. Euroscepticism was at an all time high. Even in the following years, the EU did not fully recover. Yet in 2022, the block that is so often divided, was given a gift in the form of Russian aggression on its eastern border. In the same way as NATO, the EU has been revived in its purpose by Putin's flagrant aggression towards a sovereign state. It has been reminded of its real, driving purpose: an economically united, democratic and peaceful Europe. Now, that is not to say that has in any way been achieved, or is even close to being achieved, but at last the EU has its purpose again. 

Ukraine, bruised but not beaten.

European Enlargement

Though the EU has been quick to note that there is no such thing as a 'fast-track' for EU membership, with the process being merit-based, it has invited the authorities of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to "unambiguously demonstrate their political determination to implement the European ambitions of their people." This is a vocal encouragement by the EU for the respective Eastern European states, who have all suffered under Russian aggression, to accelerate their reforms and push towards EU membership. Indeed, as the EU website stressed along with the resolution itself, expansion is a geopolitical and geostrategic imperative. It would, certainly in the long term, improve the EU countries as well as the candidates security, economic and political interests. MEPs pressed once again for the enlargement of the block to be redirected towards the Western Balkans. Here, states such as Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia are all candidate states for EU membership. Herein, Montenegro and Serbia are the most advanced nations, with hopes to join the block by the mid 2020s. Albania and North Macedonia are slightly further behind in the process, with Bulgaria having blocked North Macedonian advances, whilst even further behind is Bosnia and Herzegovina, who applied in 2016, but has yet to be advanced to candidate status. For Turkey and Kosovo, the prospect remains a fantasy. 

A Map of Prospective EU States. 
Image Source: https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Europe/EU-enlargement-to-the-east-is-back-on-the-agenda-216545

The Prospect of  Ukraine in the European Union

According to Article 49 of the EU treaty, any European country that conforms to the values referred to in Article 2 have the prospect of becoming a member of the European Union. For Ukraine that hope is very real, fuelled by the support it feels across the continent after the Russian invasion and its stoic resistance. The decision itself on new EU membership requires a unanimous decision by the council, which is on its agenda both today and tomorrow, as leaders meet in Brussels. For now, Ukrainian hope is real. Both on its EU ambitions and its future as a nation state, despite the great difficulties it will face upon the way.