Page 133 - SEVEN STEPS for COMPREHENDING the EUROPEAN UNION

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ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND
THE EU ACCESSION TRAJECTORY

Membership of the European Union has become an overarching goal
and main state priority for many countries in the EU neighborhood,
including Georgia. Chapter 11, Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution
clearly identifies the objective of Georgia’s membership in the Union
by saying that “the constitutional bodies shall take all measures within
the scope of their competences to ensure the full integration of Georgia
into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” 94
Geographically, the EU neighborhood can be divided into
“European” as well as “non-European” parts. Non-European neighbors
would be countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, etc. The
EU treats them as neighbors with which it shares a sea border across
the Mediterranean. Because of their geographical location, these
aforementioned states do not have EU membership perspectives – in
1987, Morocco applied for the EU membership; however, the bid was
rejected due to the fact that Morocco may not be considered as a
European state as the Treaty on the EU requires – “Any European State
… may apply to become a member of the Union.” 95

Countries in the EU’s south-east neighborhood spare no efforts to
make progress towards the goal of ultimate EU membership. In Ukraine,
an attempt of the former government to step aside from the path of the
European Union resulted in civil unrest and the revolution of 2014. In the
Western Balkans, Serbia (despite the 78-day-long military confrontation
of the former Yugoslav Federal Republic with NATO states in 1999), as
well as Albania, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina, have become EU candidates and are currently engaged in
EU accession negotiations. Kosovo enjoys the status of EU a potential
candidate state. In 2022, Ukraine and Moldova became EU candidate
94 Constitution of Georgia
https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/30346?publication=36
95 Treaty on EU; Article 49
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12016M049