The Republic of Moldova is set to receive a roadmap for EU accession, which will outline the reforms and the next stages of the process, as well as indicative deadlines for the advancement of negotiations. The announcement was made by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, during a press conference held in Strasbourg. The document will be presented on October 28, along with the European Commission’s annual enlargement package.
The European Commissioner mentioned that roadmaps will also be presented for Ukraine, Albania, and Montenegro, but these will be adapted to the stage each country is at. According to her, Montenegro is the most advanced, followed by Albania, while Moldova and Ukraine have not yet opened all negotiation clusters, reports IPN.
In parallel, the European Commission has presented a package of measures for preparing the EU for enlargement, structured in four areas: governance, European values, policies, and budget. Among the proposals are replacing unanimity with a qualified majority vote for opening negotiation clusters and for some intermediate decisions in the accession process. The Commission proposes applying this mechanism also in certain areas where, currently, unanimity is required, such as sanctions, combating tax fraud, and some energy-related tax measures.
At the same time, the Commission proposes stricter guarantees for future member states, to prevent setbacks after accession. In serious cases of EU values violation, measures could go as far as suspending the right to vote in the EU Council.
Also, the Commission intends to accelerate the gradual integration of candidate states in areas such as energy, transport, digitalization, and defense, depending on the progress made. Pre-accession funding will remain conditional on the implementation of reforms, and support could be reduced or suspended if requirements are not met.