The countries of the European Union have agreed to start the long process of examine the offers of join the 27-nation bloc submitted by Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in the alarm of Russia invasion of son pro-Western neighbor, diplomats say on Monday.
ex-soviet states last rushed week in highly symbolic applications join the block after the Kremlin launched son attack on Ukraine.
the move by the 27 Member States is the first step in the notoriously complex block process for decide whether to allow new members to joinwhich may result on for years.
Ukraine pleaded with the block to be granted a fast follow up membership while he does face to an assault by forces from Moscow.
While Kyiv at won from a certain number of EU countries to become candidates, others are reluctant to commit at the opening up a clear path for the country ravaged by war.
European leader Charles Michel on On Monday, bloc leaders will discuss Ukraine membership application in the coming days.
“The EU’s unprecedented solidarity, friendship and assistance for Ukraine is unshakable. We will discuss Ukraine membership application in days to come,” said Michel in a tweet.
EU ambassadors agreed to ask bloc executive to present ‘opinion’ on the candidacies of the three countries, French officials said, who hold the rotating presidency of the EU, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The executive can take years to render son opinion and after that the Member States must agree unanimously to let the candidate formally become a “candidate”.
This then starts a process of painstaking reforms and negotiations that usually take at least a decade to complete.
EU leaders must discuss war in Ukraine and the country’s attempt to join the EU at an informal summit in Paris on Thusday.
The auction for membership has a major symbolic weight for Ukrainians as Moscow tries to drag the country back in his sphere of affecting.
A decision in 2013 by then Ukrainian leader to reject closer ties with the bloc sparked pro-EU protests that set in former a spiral of events leading to the annexation of Russia of Crimea and confrontation with the Kremlin.
