The credibility of EU membership for Ukraine and Moldova depends on how flexible member states are with the criteria for entry and the notion of full membership. In a piece for the Loop blog, Veronica Anghel and Erik Jones, drawing on analysis of previous enlargements, show that the flexibility can be considerable.
According to the Copenhagen accession criteria, neither Ukraine nor Moldova appear close to qualifying for EU membership, the authors point out. They cite the examples of Cyprus and Turkey to describe how the EU can look the other way and allow member states to negotiate adaptations in the accession criteria.
What it means to be an EU member can also be flexible, they note, pointing out that not all member states have joined the Schengen area or the common currency, for example.
“Ukraine and Moldova are far from meeting the EU membership criteria. Yet, the pattern of European enlargement fails to conform either to the original goals set out by the member states or to a fixed understanding of what EU membership is. The European Council can even ignore a frozen conflict. The question is whether some form of membership is better than the alternative. For Moldova and Ukraine, that is likely to be the case.”
Photo: European Parliament