Depending on its choice, it could achieve formal candidate status quite quickly or be out in the cold for years.
Countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are unwilling at this stage even to hint at candidate status for Ukraine.
Now that he has won candidate status for his country he might go soon, handing over to Igor Luksic, his deputy.
The European Commission has recommended Serbia for EU candidate status but said talks could only start after it normalised ties with Kosovo.
The European Union, for example, has set the bar deliberately low for Bosnia to apply for candidate status, in recognition of its unique complexity.
Serbia, the best-run and biggest, deserves to gain candidate status in December, especially if it can show more flexibility over its former province of Kosovo.
Yet Vladimir Todoric, a Serbian analyst, says that the government will give away as little as it can without losing its chance of candidate status.
In exchange they are being tempted with the offer of visa-free travel to most EU countries, candidate status for the EU and full NATO membership.
The ruling Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic hopes candidate status might boost its chances of winning the general election it may call early next year.
The drive for candidate status also explains why Serbia is acting in such an exemplary fashion in EU-sponsored talks with Kosovo that began in Brussels earlier this month.
Serbia lodged a request for EU candidate status in December.
ECONOMIST: Past and present intertwine in Serbia in unexpected ways
Serbia aims to be granted official EU candidate status later this year and to be given a start date for accession talks, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports from the Serbian capital.
BBC: Germany's Angela Merkel ties Serbian EU hopes to Kosovo
Neighbourly relations are a prerequisite for progress towards the EU. Keen to win candidate status even though (like five of 27 EU members) it does not recognise its former province, Serbia began commission-sponsored talks with Kosovo.
"If Serbia wants to achieve candidate status, it should resume the dialogue and achieve results in that dialogue, enable Eulex to work in all regions of Kosovo, and abolish parallel structures and not create new ones, " she said.
BBC: Germany's Angela Merkel ties Serbian EU hopes to Kosovo
Serbia has made some progress towards EU membership, signing a Stabilization and Association Agreement with Brussels in May 2008, and with full implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU in February 2010, but a decision on candidate status has been postponed to 2012.
By contrast, if Turkey were promoted from candidate to member status it would have a great number of deputies in the European Parliament.
And because Mr Miller is registered as a write-in candidate his protected status will last beyond Missouri's primaries in August, until the November election in what will be one of the most closely-watched races of the year.
Mr Miller's status as a candidate, no matter how ridiculous, puts the ads under the protection of political speech, the highest level of the First Amendment.
An interesting status for a candidate of Dr. Paul's persuasion to have achieved, and he'll achieve even more if Iowans choose to give him a victory.
Once candidate sites for World Heritage status have been placed on the UK Tentative List they are invited to put forward a more detailed case for nomination and participate in a Technical Evaluation.
Churches cannot officially endorse a candidate, for fear of losing their tax-exempt status.
Once CNN projects a winner in each state contest, the "Status" for that contest changes to reflect the candidate's position.
You praise her work, you invite her to serve on the committees with the most power and influence, introduce her to clients and use your influence to make sure she is given the best available human resources to get her job done in such a way that she will be the obvious next candidate for promotion to equity partnership, the C-suite, or senior executive status.
The day before, Romney spokesman Rick Gorka repeatedly stuck to noncommittal responses when grilled for several minutes about the candidate's stance on a controversial provision in the Arizona law requiring police to check the immigration status of crime suspects.
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