The summit of the European Council starts in Brussels today and the agenda includes a number of issues of international importance. The EU leaders will discuss the EU enlargement policy, including the stabilization and association process, and also the next steps in this regard, IPN reports.

The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis one day before the summit said that the European Council is to raise complex issues related to the enlargement. The European Commission reached the conclusion that Ukraine and Moldova are ready for opening accession negotiations and a political decision by the European Council is needed. “According to the information we possess, not everyone is sure that the negotiations should open now. We, as we are sure, will seek to take the discussions to the given direction. I will clearly ask to open the accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova,” stated the Romanian official.

He noted that a similar discussion will take place for others, for example, for Bosnia and Herzegovina, respectively for Georgia, which is likely to get the candidate status. “The discussions are expected to be tough. I hope we will manage to move things on. For Moldova, in particular, I can say that I’m very glad that significant progress was made and the country really deserves to enter the next stage together with Ukraine,” said Klaus Iohannis.

Journalists asked the Romanian President about eventual scenarios concerning the European Council’s decision and how Moldova can be affected in case of a negative development. “We enter the Council with hope that we will find a joint solution as the solidarity or unity of the European Union is our most powerful weapon. But this time the situation is difficult and that’s why I started the discussion like this. There is no guarantee at the moment when we speak about a positive result and we will therefore have discussions and again discussions,” said Klaus Iohannis, noting that things in politics are solved by compromise and a unanimous vote is needed in the European Council.

Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are EU candidate states. For its part, Georgia asked to be granted the candidate status.

Moldova submitted an application for EU membership on March 3, 2022. On June 23, 2022, the European Council granted the EU candidate status to Moldova.