Page 135 - SEVEN STEPS for COMPREHENDING the EUROPEAN UNION

134 / SEVEN STEPS FOR COMPREHENDING THE EUROPEAN UNION

In 1995, the EU Madrid summit adopted an additional criteria for
the EU membership; namely, an EU candidate country should be able
to implement EU laws and ensure their effective implementation by
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relevant national administrative and judiciary bodies.
In order to draw a detailed trajectory for 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 provisions
of EU law, as well as EU practices which we are going to explore, are being
used towards the current acceding countries of the Western Balkans. 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
and, presumably, will also be used in the future as well.
It is important to underline that in the cases of Ukraine, Moldova
and Georgia the EU has made an unprecedented derogation and invited
these states to submit their application for the Union’s membership
at a time when none of them held the EU membership perspective,
i.e., the status of EU potential candidacy. Such a decision, indisputably,
was triggered by the Russian aggression to Ukraine to which the EU
responded promptly and resolutely.
In conclusion, the clear prospect of EU membership, expressed
through the status of an EU potential candidate, is the first step on the
EU accession track; however, it does not necessarily signal an official
launching of the EU accession process.
97 Treaty on European Union — Joining the EU
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Al14536
Negotiations status
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https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/countries/check-current-status_en
Candidate Countries and Potential Candidates
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https://ec.europa.eu/environment/enlarg/candidates.htm