Twenty-seven leaders on Thursday acknowledged the EU candidate’s position in Ukraine and Moldova, prompting European Council President Charles Michel to declare a “historic moment” and declare a full-scale Russian offensive.
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Kiev immediately welcomed the decision, which was taken at a summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
“Today marks an important milestone in your path to the EU,” Charles Michael congratulated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky and Moldovan President Mia Sandu and their people on Twitter. “We have a future together,” he tweeted in the languages ​​of those countries.
Georgia, which wants to join the European Union, needs to make further reforms to achieve this status. Despite being twenty-seven, one day he recognized within himself the “expectation” of joining the union.
“Georgia’s future lies within the EU,” said Charles Michael.
The leaders followed the Commission’s views presented last week on these three former Soviet republics.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholes, who attended the summit, also declared that the Council of Europe was “historically significant”.
Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia submitted their nominations shortly after the outbreak of the Moscow-led war in Ukraine in late February.
The EU has never been so quick to grant this status, a new example of its solidarity with Kiev and Chisinau.
Representatives of several member states warned that “there should be no illusions” about the rapid unification of the Ukrainians. Emmanuel Macron estimated it would be “ten years” to join Kiev in May.
The Commission should conduct a preliminary assessment at the end of the year on the reforms requested by both countries, especially those concerned with the fight against corruption and the independence of the judiciary.
The next stage, the commencement of official negotiations, would require the consensus of twenty-seven again.
The talks have not yet opened for candidates from northern Macedonia and Albania, respectively, since 2005 and 2014. The western Balkans also expressed frustration over the slowdown in their merger process on Thursday.
