By AFP and Kontur | 2023-12-15

PARIS -- Ukraine is basking in the European Union (EU)'s decision Thursday (December 14) to open formal membership negotiations with it and Moldova.

The EU has gone through several waves of expansion in the past 50 years. Now two former Soviet republics are poised to join the bloc someday in a rejection of Russia, their former imperial master.

The EU's decision to open accession talks with Ukraine was "a victory" for the war-torn country and "all of Europe," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.

"A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens," he posted on X, formerly Twitter. "History is made by those who don't get tired of fighting for freedom."

Kyiv had feared Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban would veto the start of accession talks, but European Council (EC) President Charles Michel said Thursday that the EU had agreed to open talks with Ukraine and Moldova.

The EC defines the EU's general political direction and priorities.

The EU's decision showed that it "highly appreciated the reforms we have made in recent years and the implementation of all the recommendations of the European Commission," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shymhal said.

"A difficult path lies ahead. We are united and ready to pass it as quickly as possible," he said.

'Monumental milestone'

Georgia, another former Soviet republic occupied by Moscow for centuries, is making progress in its own EU aspirations.

Michel, host of the EU summit, said the bloc had also granted candidate status to Georgia, a step below opening membership talks, and would open negotiations with Bosnia once it meets membership criteria.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili Thursday welcomed as a "monumental milestone" the decision of EU leaders to grant Tbilisi the long-awaited formal candidate status.

"Today signifies a monumental milestone for Georgia and our European family!" Zourabichvili said on social media.

"The unwavering will of the Georgian people has spoken, leading to the well-deserved attainment of candidate status."

Tbilisi applied for EU membership together with Ukraine and Moldova after Russia unleashed its all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022.

In 2022, the EU granted candidate status to Kyiv and Chisinau but urged Tbilisi to first implement judicial and electoral reforms, improve press freedom and curtail the power of oligarchs.

In November, the European Commission recommended that EU leaders grant Georgia official candidate status -- with the caveat that the Tbilisi government introduce reforms.

The commission is the EU's politically independent executive arm.

Tbilisi had expressed concerns that a threat by Orban to block key decisions on Ukraine at the forthcoming EU summit could affect Georgia's chances of obtaining candidate status at the same time.

Orban had agreed not to be in the room when the other 26 leaders backed a consensus decision, a European diplomatic source told AFP.

EU membership is enshrined in Georgia's constitution and supported –- according to opinion polls –- by about 80% of the population.

Several enlargements, one departure

Founded in 1957, the European Economic Community (later renamed the EU) started out with six members -- Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany.

In 1973, Britain, Denmark and Ireland joined, followed by Greece, Portugal and Spain in the 1980s.

In 1995, the bloc began expanding eastward, admitting Austria, Finland and Sweden in a leap that gave it a shared border with Russia for the first time.

In 2004, came the "big bang" enlargement from 15 to 25 members, with eight ex-Communist Eastern European countries and two Mediterranean nations raising EU flags in one swoop.

In 2007 Bulgaria and Romania took the EU to 27 members, and in 2013 Croatia became the 28th.

Britain became in 2020 the first member state to leave the EU, after a seismic 2016 referendum vote to quit the bloc, taking its members back down to 27.

Growing waiting list

The war in Ukraine has reignited the EU's drive to expand into central and eastern Europe.

In December 2022, Bosnia became the fifth Balkan nation to be given candidate status, following North Macedonia (2005), Montenegro (2010), Serbia (2012) and Albania (2014).

Kosovo in 2022 also applied but has yet to obtain candidate status.

NATO member Türkiye has been a candidate since 1999 and launched membership talks in 2005.

But Ankara's relations with the EU have deteriorated sharply since 2016 in part because of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's crackdown on dissent in the wake of a failed coup.

For many EU member states, the long-stalled accession talks with Ankara are dead in all but name. In September, Austria -- long opposed to Türkiye's membership -- even called for the process to end.

Ukraine, whose European ambitions have fueled two revolutions since 2004, Moldova and Georgia brought to nine the number of countries in the EU's waiting room.

The three former Soviet republics were among six countries with which the EU formed an Eastern Partnership in 2009, trading closer economic and political ties for reforms.

The others were Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia's ally Belarus, which later opted out.

Years of negotiations

Gaining full membership is a complex process that usually takes several years, as aspirants have to take on board the vast body of EU law.

While Finland was admitted in fewer than four years, it took the three ex-Soviet Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania nine.