The EU is developing accession roadmaps for Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania

The European Union is developing specific roadmaps for joining the bloc for four countries that it considers closest to this - Montenegro, Ukraine, Moldova and Albania, Politico reports, citing senior European officials.

“The EU is developing proposals that would offer the four countries closest to joining the bloc a clear, step-by-step path to membership... Specific roadmaps are being considered for Montenegro, Ukraine, Moldova and Albania,” the publication said, citing two senior European Commission officials working on draft versions of the maps.

As Politico notes, these roadmaps will detail what is expected of each candidate country and set specific deadlines for completing negotiation clusters. It is noteworthy that within the framework of these cards a number of obligations will be imposed on existing EU members, who must approve the progress of the procedure.

In June 2022, the EU granted Ukraine and Moldova candidate country status. The European Union has repeatedly recognized that such a decision was largely symbolic in order to support Kyiv and Chisinau in their confrontation with Moscow. Meanwhile, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called accession to the EU the sovereign right of Kyiv.

At the same time, some European countries oppose Kyiv’s accession to the EU. In particular, the Polish authorities have repeatedly stated that they will block Ukraine's entry into the union if Kyiv does not agree to the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre, as a result of which Poles died at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists during World War II.