Сonditions for Membership in the European Union: Problems and Prospects for Ukraine

The European Union is an open regional (European) intergovernmental association that, unlike the Council of Europe, takes a strict approach to membership. It is obvious that the Union does not want to see as its members any state that is territorially related to Europe in its geographical sense, but only a state that belongs to European civilization, and therefore fully adheres to the basic values of unification

The desire for EU membership of post-socialist countries led to the introduction in 1993 of the Copenhagen criteria, which concerned countries whose political, legal and socio-economic systems did not meet the basic principles of the Union and its member states before integration.

In 1993 the Copenhagen criteria introduced special requirements for candidate countries for the European Union. It is worth noting that it was during this period that the candidates were post-socialist states, which for a long time developed in the opposite direction, but showed a desire to follow the path of democratization and the rule of law.

It is undeniable that In Ukraine, one of the foreign policy guidelines is the accession to this integration association, as evidenced by the relevant conceptual and regulatory documents, policy statements and gradual development of economic and other areas of cooperation. As a result, Ukraine is currently undergoing significant economic, political and legal reforms to strengthen the democracy of our state. Thus, there is a question in the further analysis of the provisions of the normative documents defining the criteria of membership, as well as the international practice of other states/

So, this research is relevant in modern realities and its necessity is unconditional.The article is devoted to the study of normative documents that determine the legal basis for membership in the European Union and the conditions that a state must meet in order to acquire the status of a candidate for membership; identification and analysis of the current state and problems of Ukraine on the way to the European Union, provided recommendations to accelerate the process of acquiring membership status.