Ukraine’s candidacy for EU sends a signal. Now the hard part begins.

Until last week, Ukraine’s candidacy for membership in the European Union was far from a foregone conclusion.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for starters, made no secret of their lack of enthusiasm for the idea, with Mr. Macron suggesting that perhaps a lower-tier, non-member political alliance was the best way to go.

But after visiting Ukraine last week – surveying wreckage and graffiti that, reporters on the scene noted, implored “Make Europe, not war” – the leaders announced, in the face of political pressure and a desire, perhaps, to be on the right side of history, their support. And on Thursday, the bloc made Ukraine’s