Page 8 - EU Legislation Behind the EU Accession Process, Accession Criteria and Accession Stages

accessing the Union, we need to explore the relevant provisions of EU
law as well as the practices which the EU currently applies for accepting
new members. The EU accession process can be divided into five steps:

I. The applicant state has to earn the status of an EU potential
candidate.

On its official website, the European Commission specifies that
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EU potential candidates have a clear prospect of joining the EU in the
future but have not yet been granted candidate country status.
The status of an EU potential candidate does not derive from any

EU treaty. However, it has been offered to the Western Balkan
countries.
The prospect of EU membership has to be included in an

agreement between the applicant country and the Union. Such
agreements were signed with countries of Central and Eastern Europe
which joined the EU in 2004-2007. Similar provisions were introduced
in agreements between the EU and Western Balkan states in 2001-2015.

In case, Ukraine is granted the status of the EU candidate state in
response to its application for the EU membership of February 28, 2022,
such fact will constitute an extraordinary derogation from the
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established practices. In 21 century no European state applied for the
Union membership without having a formal perspective for the EU
membership.

3 Negotiations status
https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/countries/check-current-status_en
4 Candidate Countries and Potential Candidates
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/enlarg/candidates.htm
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