Ukraine began negotiations with the European Union on Tuesday to join the bloc, a key ambition for the country defending itself against a large-scale invasion from Russia.
‘The road will be long and […] will not always be an easy task,” Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said afterwards on behalf of the EU at a press conference.
“But with unwavering determination, we are confident that Ukraine can make it,” she said.
Lahbib underlined the symbolic importance of the EU talks for Ukraine and paid tribute to the memory of Ukrainian demonstrators who were shot ten years ago during pro-Western protests on Kiev’s Maidan Square in 2014.
“We remember what Ukraine has endured since that day,” she said.
Ukraine’s “historic day”
Representatives of the EU and Ukraine met in Luxembourg to officially open talks on the sidelines of a meeting of EU affairs ministers.
The process will not start for a few months and is expected to take years, but opening talks is an important show of support from the EU. Ukraine cannot join the bloc while it is at war with Russia.
Moldova began its own membership negotiations a few hours later on Tuesday.
Before opening the talks, Lahbib said the negotiations would be “rigorous and demanding.”
Joining the EU is a symbol for which “thousands of Ukraine’s best sons and daughters gave their lives,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the opening session via video link.
The EU presented the guidelines and principles for the negotiations to the two candidate countries. Substantial talks could then begin within the next 12 months, EU diplomats said.
EU symbol of hope for Ukraine
Until then, the European Commission is still carrying out an important process called ‘screening’. This examines the extent to which the national law of the candidate member states deviates from EU law.
Ukraine applied for EU membership following Russia’s large-scale invasion in February 2022. Moldova also applied at the same time.
Moldova, like its larger neighbor Ukraine, has a breakaway region called Transnistria that joins Russia.
For Ukraine, the opening of EU accession negotiations is an important symbol of resistance and motivation to continue their defense against Russia.
“Today is a historic day as we continue with actual, real negotiations,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X.
“I am grateful to everyone who defends Ukraine, our country and people. I am grateful to the team that is doing everything it can to make us part of the European Union,” he said.
A long way to go for Ukraine
But the start of talks does not mean that Ukraine and Moldova will join the EU anytime soon: every step of the process requires unanimous agreement among current member states, and several other countries have been waiting much longer.
A year ago, in June 2023, EU leaders formally recognized Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for membership.
They granted Georgia candidate country status in December 2023, while agreeing to open talks with Ukraine and Moldova.
The other official candidates are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.
The last country to be admitted to the EU was Croatia, which joined in 2013. Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 and ten countries joined in 2004.
