Dhe EU heads of state and government promised Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia a “European perspective” on Thursday. They also granted candidate country status to Ukraine and Moldova; for Georgia they tied this to upstream conditions. EU Council President Charles Michel then spoke of a “historic moment” that the Union had sent a very resolute and unified message. “There can be no better sign of hope in these difficult times,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose recommendation the member states followed.
French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted the geopolitical dimension of the decision. “After NATO had good reasons to say no to Ukraine’s accession, we would have made a political mistake and left a vacuum if we hadn’t reached out to Ukraine and Moldova,” Macron said. In fact, Allianz has never turned down the country’s accession, although as early as 2008 Paris and Berlin prevented it from having any concrete prospects of admission.
The European Council was overshadowed by Bulgaria’s ongoing blockade of accession negotiations with North Macedonia. The day before, the largest opposition party there had spoken out in favor of a compromise negotiated by France, but the situation remained unclear due to the resignation of Prime Minister Kirill Petkov.
Council President Michel expressed the hope that the Bulgarian Parliament would end the blockade “in the next few hours”. Macron, who helped negotiate the compromise to be voted on there, said everything would be done to achieve the necessary majority.
Frustration in the Balkan states
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose country is also affected by the blockade, called Bulgaria’s behavior a “disgrace” and lamented the “completely mendacious spirit of enlargement”. Chancellor Scholz meanwhile pledged Germany’s support to the six countries in the Western Balkans on their way to the EU: “We feel responsible for ensuring that these countries succeed in their efforts.” ‘ by removing the need for unanimity in areas such as foreign policy.
Candidate status is not a guarantee of speedy admission to the EU. The case of Turkey shows that the accession process can also end in a dead end. The country has had candidate status since 1999. However, the EU accession negotiations that began in 2005 have been on hold for years because of the unsatisfactory developments in the country from Brussels’ perspective.
Almost four months ago, shortly after the start of the Russian attack, Ukraine applied for admission to the EU. Shortly thereafter, Moldova and Georgia also submitted applications for membership.