In the aftermath of Russia’s attack, an attempt by Ukraine to join the European Union (EU) earned a massive boost on Friday morning when the bloc’s executive stated it believes the nation should be officially assessed for candidacy status.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated in Brussels that the Commission believes “Ukraine will be granted candidate status. Of course, this is contingent on the country implementing a number of other reforms.”

“Ukraine has clearly demonstrated its aim and willingness to live up to European ideals and norms, in the opinion of the Commission.”

Von der Leyen wrapped up her remarks by saying: “We all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the sake of a European future.

We want them to share the European ideal with us.” The Commission also suggested that Moldova, Ukraine’s neighbor, be granted candidate status, but not Georgia, until it meets further requirements. The leaders of the EU’s 27 member nations will gather next week for a summit to discuss their views.

As per the research group, the UK is a Changing Europe, although if member states accept that Ukraine should be a candidate nation, which is far from definite, the procedure of joining the EU is complex and takes, as usual, just under five years to finish.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s strike on his country was an invasion of all of Europe throughout a joint news conference in Kyiv on Thursday with the EU’s three top political leaders, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron,  Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

He went on to say that continuing to support Ukrainian assimilation into the EU is the best way of demonstrating “our prevalent and powerful stance,” and that its condition as an applicant for EU membership “can magnify liberty in Europe traditionally and be one of the key European choices of the first third of the twenty-first century.”

Ukraine is ready to work to become a full member of the EU, according to Zelensky: “We recognize that the road to the European Union is a journey, not a single step. However, this journey must begin, and we are prepared to strive to transform our country into a full member of the European Union, as Ukrainians already have earned the right to do so.”

Later, Macron claimed that Russia’s attack was the reason for Ukraine’s potential EU candidate position. On board a train departing Ukraine, he spoke with CNN affiliate BFMTV in an interview on Friday.

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“Ukraine should not typically be a candidate,” he said after visiting Kyiv. “We’re undertaking it due to the war and because we think it’s good.” “It’s a gesture of hope,” he added. “It’s a message to Ukraine that they are part of the European family.”

While Macron claimed that most of Western Europe favored the proposal, he added that “we have countries that are more hesitant.”The topic of Ukraine’s EU candidacy will be resolved at the European Council conference next Thursday and Friday, according to the French president.” Joining the EU is a long road,” he continued.

Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, thanked the European Commission for its decision. He tweeted, “Grateful to @vonderleyen for this decision!”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he had “no objections” to Ukraine joining the European Union. “Because the EU, unlike Europe, is not a military-political group, we have always said and I’ve always said that our stance here is continuous, comprehensible, and we have nothing to do with anything,” Putin said after his speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“Any country has the sovereign right to join or not enter economic organizations, and it is up to the economic association to accept or decline new members. Let the EU countries determine insofar as it is in the best interests of the EU. It is also their business whether it will be for the advantage or the damage of Ukraine “Putin stated the following.

What Next?

Ukraine will now endeavor to fulfill the Copenhagen Criteria, an enigmatic set of criteria that the EU must be convinced a candidate state has completed in order to start actual accession talks. They look into whether a country has a functional free-market economy if its institutions are capable of upholding European ideals like human rights and the EU’s view of the rule of law and if it has a functional, inclusive democracy.

There are also valid complaints that Ukraine may not achieve the Copenhagen Criteria very soon. Ukraine is ranked 122nd out of 180 nations in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021. In comparison, Russia is ranked 136th.

Once a country is regarded to have met these conditions, it can begin negotiating with the EU’s 35 chapters, the last three of which revisit parts of the Copenhagen Criteria.

It must then be approved in the EU Parliament and by the legislative bodies of each member state’s government after the leadership of the EU member states has consented.

On February 28, just four days after Russia began its war, Ukraine formally sought to join the EU. At the time, Zelensky stated that the bloc must “urgently admit Ukraine through a new mechanism… our goal is to be on the same level as all Europeans. I am confident that we are deserving of it. I am confident that it is achievable.”

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Before the battle, Zelensky stated that Ukraine would like to join NATO as well. Nevertheless, he has now chilled on the proposal once it became clear that the alliance would not include Kyiv any time soon.

“I personally demanded that they declare directly that we are going to accept you into NATO in a year, two years, five years, or just say no,” Zelensky added. “And the answer was pretty clear: you won’t be a NATO member, but the doors will stay open publicly,” he continued.