We do not have an exact questionnaire that was sent to Ukraine, but we can give you some details about this document, which appears in the “classic” process of accession to the European Union.
Each state wishing to join the EU must complete a questionnaire aimed at assessing the preparedness of the candidate countries according to the accession criteria set during the Copenhagen European Council in 1993, commonly known as the “Copenhagen Criteria”.
These three criteria relate to:
- the political sphere, namely: Does the candidate have stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities?
- the economic area, namely: does the applicant have a viable market economy and companies that can be easily integrated into the European single market?
- the community area, namely: Can the candidate assume the obligations of EU membership, in particular support the goals of political, economic and monetary union?
The number of questions may vary by country. For example, in the case of Croatia there were 4,560 questions, in the case of the current candidate countries North Macedonia 4,666 questions, Montenegro 2,178 and Serbia 2,486.
Applicants are usually given an approximate period of three months to complete the questionnaire, but the European Commission has long established that “quality is more important than speed” and that the candidate country may need longer to reply in order to provide better quality answers obtain.
Upon receipt of these replies, the European Commission publishes an official “Opinion” containing a detailed “Analytical Report” covering all Copenhagen criteria, including 33 policy chapters of the acquis communautaire, as well as conclusions and potential recommendations to the Council from the EU on the award of the Status of a candidate country and the start of accession negotiations.