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Introduction. Since 2022, Ukraine has been following the path of “classical accession” to the EU, which involves the compliance with the Copenhagen criteria and adoption of the common EU legislation (acquis) in 33 policy areas/ chapters. But advancement withing this scenario is a long and resource-intensive process. Problem Statement. The urgent task is to find an optimal model of joining the EU with coherence to a reasonable time frame of this course, achieving high results of European integration and identification of the sources of funding for carrying out reforms and overcoming the consequences of the war after reducing the potential of the Ukraine Facility. Purpose - identification of the current financial and legal problems of the European integration process for Ukraine, generalization of the methodological pillars of the concept of staged accession to the EU as a more progressive version over the classic accession model, design of the policy proposals for updating monitoring tools and financial incentives for progressing across the subsequent stages towards the EU membership. Methods. General scientific and special methods are applied: reviews of theoretical sources, advisory and research papers, analysis of statistical data and legal documents, historical method, logical method, methods of comparison and synthesis. Results. The article summarizes the methodological pillars of the concept of staged accession to the EU, systematizes the legal mechanisms of negotiations and obtaining EU membership, shows the financial aspects of the European integration process, including access to the EU cohesion funds, and elaborates practically important proposals for the activity of the EU institutions and national bodies as to the operationalization of the model of staged accession. Conclusions. The staged accession model is the most holistic and logically structured concept that can evolve a predictable progress towards the EU membership. The model should be based on the European Commission's quantitative assessments of countries' preparedness for the membership within the framework of negotiating clusters and chapters. A system of performance indicators is also required that will record progress of the candidate countries across stages and will set the ground for disbursements from the EU funds in line with specified ratios. Since 2028, the new EU medium-term fiscal framework should provide for the formation of new funds to finance the recovery of Ukraine's economy and the application of the EU's cohesion policy towards Ukraine.
Tetiana BOHDAN (Sat,) studied this question.