The European Commission has told EU member states that both Ukraine and Moldova have met the necessary criteria to kick off formal negotiations on their accession to the bloc. “We believe that all the steps have been fulfilled by the two countries,” a Commission spokeswoman said on Friday, adding that now the decision is in the hands of the member states. In a comment following this announcement, the official Chisinau said that Moldova is moving with firm steps towards the official launch of negotiations, IPN reports.

The Office for European Integration noted that in European Commission’s report to the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the EU – the main preparatory body of the Council – the Republic of Moldova was assessed as fulfilling the last three recommendations of the European Commission. The next step is the adoption by the EU member states of the negotiation framework and the convening of the first Intergovernmental Conference between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Cristina Gerasimov underlined the support of the EU member states in the European path of the Republic of Moldova. “We thank the states that yesterday sent a joint letter to the Belgian Presidency of the Council in support of the organization of the first Intergovernmental Conference by the end of June - Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden,” said the official.

The Republic of Moldova submitted an application for EU membership in March 2022 and was granted candidate status in June 2022. In April 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission and the European Council to open accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova upon the fulfilment of the nine steps identified by the European Commission.