Candidate status, granted in June

On 23 June 2022 the European Council granted Ukraine, together with Moldova, the status of candidate for membership. Four months from application to candidate status is fast by any historical measure.

It was not unconditional, and the conditions are the interesting part. Seven of them: reform of the Constitutional Court selection procedure, continued judicial reform, anti-corruption including the appointment of a specialised prosecutor, anti-money-laundering legislation, an anti-oligarch law, alignment of media legislation with the European directive, and the minority rights framework.

Conditions read as an agenda

I have watched conditionality lists in this region for two decades, and most of them are ignored. These were not. Over the following eighteen months each of the seven was worked through, with the Commission reporting publicly on progress. Whatever else candidate status did politically, it gave the reform agenda a deadline and an external referee.

In the same period the European Union suspended tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian exports, and opened the Solidarity Lanes to move goods overland while the ports were closed.