The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Friday 8 April, during her trip to Ukraine, that the European Commission’s objective was “to present Ukraine’s application for membership to the Council this summer”.
“Usually it takes years for the EU Council to accept the application for membership, but Ukraine did it in a week or two, and I ask to go ahead as soon as possible”, she said, according to Reuters.
Ukraine applied for membership on 1 March (see EUROPE 12901/1), and on 8 March the Member States invited the European Commission to prepare an opinion on this application (see EUROPE 12905/10). This opinion should analyse the legal and constitutional framework of the country applying for membership and the implementation of its legislation in relation to all EU laws, standards and regulations. It is based largely on a questionnaire that Mrs von der Leyen was to give to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. The questionnaires sent to countries wishing to join the EU usually contain several thousand questions.
The Council of the EU uses the European Commission’s opinion to decide whether or not to grant EU candidate status to a third country. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)