The European Union’s accession negotiations with Ukraine will begin if it is judged that the required criteria are met, government spokesman Stephen Hempstreet emphasised, and he called the granting of candidate country status to Ukraine last summer a “very important message”.

“As long as the Copenhagen criteria are met, the European Commission will make recommendations accordingly to the heads of state and government and we will proceed to the next step,” said Hempstreet, indirectly responding to the request made yesterday, Thursday, by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky for initiation of accession negotiations within the year.

Asked if this would not be a very important message, especially if it happened on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, the government spokesman countered that “the important political message was given last summer” when Ukraine was recognised as a candidate country and he emphasised that the point is not to “improve” the message, but the fact that it is a very powerful message.

The Copenhagen accession criteria

The Treaty on European Union sets out the conditions (Article 49) and principles (Article 6(1)) with which any country wishing to become a member of the European Union (EU) must comply.

Certain criteria must be met in order to join. These criteria (known as the Copenhagen criteria) were established by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993 and strengthened by the Madrid European Council in 1995.

The criteria, according to the EU’s official website, are:

– stability of the institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the respect and protection of minorities;
– a functioning market economy and ability to deal with competitive pressures and market forces within the EU;
– the ability to meet the obligations of membership, including the ability to effectively implement the rules, standards, and policies that constitute the body of EU legislation (the acquis), and adherence to the objectives of political, economic, and monetary union.

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