What is the understanding of EU member states on Ukraine's application for membership in Europe?

? Ukraine used "conflict" to speed up its application to join the European Union. Obviously, this is a "sad" card. So, have EU member states reached a consensus, or have they formed a kind of "* * * knowledge" to absorb Ukraine? To be sure, so far, we have not seen any "knowledge" of Ukraine's accession to the EU, but we can see the EU's knowledge of sanctions against Russia.

1. Why is Ukraine eager to apply to join the EU? Ukraine has always wanted to integrate into western society. Joining the EU and NATO has always been Ukraine's "dream"-dream. Even in 20 19, joining the EU and NATO was written into the Constitution as a basic national policy. However, NATO is a military alliance, and joining NATO means that NATO has expanded to Russia's doorstep, so it has met with fierce opposition from Russia. Since Russia has never made it clear that it will no longer apply to join NATO, and NATO led by the United States has not made it clear that it will not accept Ukraine to join NATO, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has intensified and developed into the current war.

Second, the progress of Ukraine's accession to the EU? Under the current situation of Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukraine began to "apply for the fire line" to join the EU, apparently taking the opportunity to make a surprise attack, with a view to accelerating the pace of joining the EU. Its recent approximate trajectory is roughly as follows-

? On February 24th, after the situation in Ukraine changed suddenly, Zelensky called on the EU to absorb Ukraine immediately.

? On February 26th, Zelensky posted a message on social media, saying that at this "critical moment", the long-term discussion on Ukrainian membership should be ended and a decision should be made "once and for all".

? On February 27th, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with the media that Ukraine "is one of us, and we hope they will come in".

? On February 28th, Zelensky signed the document of Ukraine's application to join the EU, calling on the EU to start a "new special procedure" to quickly absorb Ukraine.

? On March 1, the representative of Ukraine to the EU said that the EU had officially started the process of examining Ukraine's application for membership.

3. Joining the EU requires procedures, and Ukraine has not yet become a candidate? According to EU regulations, joining the EU must meet a series of standards, including free market economy, stable democracy and rule of law, and acceptance of EU laws, including acceptance of the euro. It can be seen that if we follow the normal process, it usually takes several years to join the EU. The first sentence of the EU official's explanation on how to become a member of the EU is: "Becoming a member of the EU requires a complicated procedure, which cannot be completed overnight."

? At present, countries that have been listed as accession candidates include Turkey and four western Balkan countries: Serbia, Albania and northern Macedonia and Montenegro. The above five countries have been waiting for many years and have not yet become full members. North Macedonia applied for membership in 2004 and became a candidate in 2005, but the accession negotiations have not yet officially started. Turkey, a member of NATO, applied for 1987, and 1999 became a candidate. In 2005, the accession negotiations began. It can be seen that even if it becomes a candidate, it will not join soon, not to mention Ukraine is not a candidate!

No consensus has been reached. On February 28th, local time, borell, the EU's senior diplomatic representative, said whether to accept Ukraine's accession to the EU was not on the current agenda. The presidents of eight eastern European countries signed a joint letter, calling on the EU to take measures to "give Ukraine the status of candidate immediately". The European Commission does not intend to comment on Ukraine's application until the European Council has sought its views on Ukraine. Some EU member states expressed their support for Ukraine's call to join the EU immediately, while the EU leadership was vague.

? Then, it remains to be seen whether Ukraine can "join"!