On February 28, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a formal application by his country to join the EU.

After the Russian occupation, Zelenski demanded Ukraine’s immediate membership in the EU, proposing that this be done through a ‘new special procedure’.

On the same day, EP President Ursula von der Leyen said “they are one of us and we want them to be part of the EU”.

Ukraine has not yet been recognized as an official candidate country for EU membership and the process may take a long time.

According to a recent YouGov poll, leading EU countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Italy are in favor of Kiev’s membership.

42 to 60% of citizens in these countries answered that Ukraine should be allowed to become an EU member state.

EU citizens were also asked about candidate countries such as Albania, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia or Serbia.

The most accepted country by EU citizens turns out to be Montenegro, which has received positive opinion from the Germans, Italians and Spaniards but not the French.

For Albania, the question of whether EU membership should be allowed, has been answered positively by Spaniards and Italians.

The Germans consider Albania the most undesirable country in the Western Balkans, giving a more negative assessment than Kosovo, which is not yet a candidate country.

The French also have a negative opinion, expressing a negative attitude towards all possible countries for membership except Ukraine.