The decision to open negotiations

On 14 December 2023 the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and with Moldova.

The interesting part is the eighteen months before it. Candidate status in June 2022 came with seven conditions: the Constitutional Court selection procedure, judicial governance, anti-corruption including a specialised prosecutor, anti-money-laundering legislation, the anti-oligarch law, media legislation aligned with the European directive, and the minority rights framework.

Conditions that were actually met

Each was legislated, with the Commission reporting publicly on progress and saying plainly where it was insufficient. Some laws were passed twice because the first version did not satisfy the assessment. That is an unusual amount of external scrutiny for a sovereign parliament to accept, and it was accepted.

I have watched conditionality in this region since 2004 and I did not expect this. Reform lists are normally a diplomatic ritual. These were a work programme, and the December decision was the receipt for it.