European Union                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                             Copyright infringement is not intended

Context: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially signed an application for Ukraine's membership in the European Union.

• Ukraine is not currently recognized as an official candidate for EU membership, though it's been part of an association agreement with the EU (in which both parties agreed to align their economies in certain areas and deepen political ties) since 2017.

Process to join EU:

• To join, a country needs its candidacy to be unanimously approved by all E.U. member states, which now number 27.
• It must also make its political system, judiciary and economy compatible with the bloc by adopting the E.U.’s system of common law, as well as more than 80,000 pages of rules and regulations on everything from environmental standards to food hygiene rules.

About EU:

• The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member statesthat are located primarily in Europe.
• The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where members have agreed to act as one.
• EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market; enact legislation in justice and home affairs; and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1083528087/ukraine-european-union