In the coming days, the EU will open the first accession negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova. The announcement was made on June 9 by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The official emphasized that the European Commission is fully prepared to support the accession of the two countries, reports newsmaker.md.
“Now is the time for us to honor our commitments. We now have the historic opportunity to do so. In the coming days, we will open the first cluster with Ukraine and Moldova. This essentially opens the door to the next phase of the accession process: the formal start of accession negotiations. And I don’t need to tell you that the Commission is fully prepared to support Ukraine on its path to the European Union, where it belongs,” declared Ursula von der Leyen.
The Republic of Moldova, together with Ukraine, obtained the status of candidate country for accession to the European Union in June 2022. The two states officially launched accession negotiations in June 2024, and are currently conducting technical discussions with the European Commission on all six negotiation clusters.
The formal opening of the negotiation clusters, which requires the unanimous approval of the EU member states, was blocked by Hungary, which did not accept Ukraine’s candidacy for accession.
After Peter Magyar became prime minister, the new leader from Budapest suggested that he will not oppose the advancement of the negotiation process. According to the international press, the European Commission is set to open the first negotiation cluster on June 16, and the others in July.