The application signed on the fifth day
On 28 February 2022, five days into the full-scale invasion, Ukraine formally applied for European Union membership. Two weeks later it was answering the Commission questionnaire that begins the assessment.
I remember the date because of how improbable it looked. On 28 February 2022, with fighting north of Kyiv, Ukraine signed and submitted its formal application for European Union membership.
On 1 March the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for candidate status to be granted. The Council asked the Commission to prepare its opinion, and the Commission sent Ukraine the questionnaire — the standard, exhaustive document that begins any accession assessment. Thousands of questions covering every area of law and administration, which Ukrainian ministries answered in a matter of weeks. That work is normally measured in months.
What made this more than a gesture
An application is a piece of paper. What followed was not. The questionnaire process forced a comprehensive audit of Ukrainian legislation against the European acquis, department by department. Whatever else was happening, that audit produced the reform agenda that has driven the four years since.
Moldova and Georgia applied in the same days. The Council of Europe, separately, expelled russia in March.
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