EU Seeks to Give June Preliminary Opinion on Ukraine’s Candidacy to Join the Bloc

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union’s executive arm is seeking to provide in June its opinion on Ukraine’s bid to become a candidate to join the bloc, paving the way for a possible decision by leaders that same month, according to people familiar with the matter.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a membership questionnaire to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy when she visited Kyiv earlier this month. Ukraine provided its first round of answers the following week and is already working on the next set of questions, the country’s deputy prime minister for European integration said on Monday.

The move could complicate efforts to reach a diplomatic solution since Russia has frequently cited Kyiv’s decision to forge closer ties with the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one rationale for its invasion of Ukraine. Membership in the EU includes an obligation to assist fellow member states that are victims of armed aggression. 

Ukraine has previously said it’s open to discussing Russia’s demand of not joining NATO and neutrality as long as it’s given security guarantees.

The commission was going through the paperwork with a view to provide its assessment ahead of a leaders’ meeting on June 23-24, when they could discuss granting Ukraine candidate status, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. 

It normally takes the commission between 15 and 18 months to provide an opinion on candidacy status, according to an EU official. 

That status, if granted, would formally begin the membership procedure, a process that includes an arduous set of steps and conditions that can normally last more than a decade. Croatia was the last country to join the bloc and its application process lasted 10 years before it was formally accepted in 2013.

“We will be working diligently to produce our opinion but we aren’t going to be offering a specific time line,” Commission Spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters on Tuesday. “We will do so as diligently and quickly as we can.”

A number of member states, including the Netherlands, had previously resisted providing Ukraine with an accelerated timetable and backing for their membership bid, but many others have pushed for granting Kyiv the status of candidate as quickly as possible given the extraordinary circumstances. Von der Leyen has repeatedly said that Ukraine belongs in the European family.

The European Parliament has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine’s accession bid. “Ukrainians are now expecting a clear signal: A yes to candidate status, and to do so immediately,” Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP political group, said to Germany’s Funke media group on Tuesday. “The EU must not engage now in formal procedural debates, it must send a political signal.”

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