The European Union could open all negotiation clusters with the Republic of Moldova this year, if the work of the authorities in Chisinau continues at the current pace. The statement belongs to the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, and was made during an interview for the public television channel Moldova 1, quoted by IPN.
Marta Kos mentioned that the first stage of the accession negotiations process, the screening stage, is currently taking place, in which the candidate country’s level of readiness for adopting and implementing the EU’s legislation is assessed. The European official specified that the screening process could be completed within a month, after which all 33 negotiation clusters would be opened.
The Enlargement Commission stressed that it rejects the idea of a possible “decoupling” of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in the negotiation process: “We are working to ensure that the opening of clusters occurs simultaneously for both Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova”.
Marta Kos noted that the opening of cluster negotiations is a merit-based matter, and at the moment both candidate countries have met the necessary requirements for this stage. The European official specified that only the unanimous vote in the EU Council is needed to start negotiations on chapters.
The opening of the first cluster of negotiations with both Chisinau and Kiev was expected in the first half of this year. This did not happen due to Budapest’s veto for Kiev. Hungary claims that there would be a lack of rights for the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine. Since the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine are “coupled” in the negotiation process, this blockage also affects Chisinau.
