The European Parliament will adopt a resolution on the start of the EU-Moldova accession negotiations, said the leader of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament Dacian Cioloș. According to the ex-Premier of Romania, even if the European Parliament does not play an institutional role in taking a decision about the opening of accession negotiations, the political signal that it transmits to the member states is very important. Dacian Cioloș expressed his confidence that the European Commission’s assessment will be positive and the EU-Moldova accession negotiations will be opened by the end of this year, IPN reports.
This week, the European Parliament is to adopt a resolution on the developments in the Republic of Moldova and on how the country managed to implement the conditions put forward by the European Commission. The leader of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament is sure that the resolution will be supported by most of the MEPs.
“I don’t have any doubts that the vote in Parliament will be with a broad majority in favor of this resolution that is positive for the Republic of Moldova as it requests the member states, the European Commission to open the accession negotiations by the end of this year. The resolution is important from political viewpoint as it gives a political signal on the part of the European Parliament, which is favorable to the enlargement of the European Union in general and to the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova in particular. It is a resolution that focuses on the preparations for accession. The other adjacent subjects, like Russia’s aggression and the situation in Ukraine, are treated minimally, not because they are not important, but because we want to bring the political support for opening the accession negotiations into the focus. It is a decision taken by the member states, in the Council, on the recommendation of the European Commission. So, the European Parliament does not play a formal, institutional role, but the Parliament’s political position can matter,” Dacian Cioloș stated in the program “At 360 Degrees” on Radio Moldova station.
The former Romanian Premier noted that the Republic of Moldova fulfilled a large part of the nine recommendations formulated by the European Commission, but the decision on the opening of accession negotiations is political and is taken by consensus by the leaders of the European Council.
“Things have moved on. I expect the European Commission will give a positive assessment that will enable the member states to take this decision on the opening of accession negotiations. But it is a political decision and we can expect anything. For now, Hungary is against the opening of negotiations with Ukraine. Even if the two countries, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, should be treated according to the merits of each of them, I think from political viewpoint it will be hard to separate Ukraine from the Republic of Moldova even if the Republic of Moldova is slightly ahead of Ukraine in terms of implementation of reforms and fulfillment of conditions,” said Dacian Cioloș.
The debate on the European Parliament’s resolution on the results achieved by the Republic of Moldova on the European path will take place on October 3. The document will be put to the vote on October 5.
