Moldova and Ukraine's EU path for membership: a new strategy for Europeanization or integration?

The European Union has engaged proactively with its neighbourhood sincethe early 2000s, combining the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EasternPartnership with incentive‑based conditionality as to export its values and, in selectedcases, the prospect of membership. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine marked acritical juncture, accelerating Moldova and Ukraine’s EU accession processes at anunprecedented pace. This article examines their accelerated progression fromapplication to the opening of accession negotiations within less than two years. Itexplores whether this shift reflects a recalibration of conditionality and the emergenceof a ‘candidate‑without‑deadline’ status; a differentiation of pre‑accession as astrategic distancing from Russia; or continuity in formal methodology with exceptionalpolitical sequencing. Methodologically, the article is conceptual and documentary.Using a conceptual and documentary approach, it reviews EU primary documents andacademic literature on Europeanization, differentiated integration, conditionality, andhistorical institutionalism, covering the period from 2004 to 2025.