In author’s opinion, “the historic decision on Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia could weaken enlargement policy and heighten candidate countries’ vulnerability to external pressure”. Does the EU candidate status help resist the outside pressure? Not only that, but also democratic and economic reforms are the features to enact for meeting EU standards for the accession
However, recent decisions about Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia status of the EU triggered the concerns that it was rather a geopolitical move against Russian threat in the eastern Europe which changes the approach towards the EU in Western Balkan countries as for the Balkan candidates the membership becomes unreal and a moving target. Therefore, in author’s opinion, the decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova is risky for at least two reasons. Firstly, there is the danger of overpromising and underdelivering – which would create similar frustrations in the two countries as are now evident in the Western Balkans. Secondly, the EU could appear to be granting Ukraine and Moldova a “geopolitical discount” – that is, supporting their EU candidacy because of Russia’s aggression rather than their approach to democratic reforms, the rule of law, or economic convergence with the union