BBG: Official-'EU Expects To Recieve Ukraine Membership Request Soon'

Bloomberg reporting that according to an EU official, the bloc is expecting to recieve a formal Ukraininan request to be admitted as a member of the European Union.

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated her support for Ukraine joining the bloc, but there remain significant obstacles to Kyiv being fast-tracked through the accession process.
• The EU has the 'Maastricht criteria' set of rules surrounding an accession states' fiscal position that have to be met before joining, as well as proof of the independence and reliability of a country's judiciary, and institutional respect for the rule of law, among other restrictions on entry.
• States with much further progressed accession programmes, such as Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, could well claim unfair treatment in that their applications have been handled in the formal way but Ukraine has bypassed this lengthy process via being subject to Russian aggression.
• As such, while the EU may seek to formalise Ukraine's eventual path to accession in the near future, the prospect of a rapid entry into the bloc seems an unlikely prospect.