The EU-Moldova Intergovernmental Conference, to take place June 25 in Luxembourg, paves the way for the official launch of accession negotiations. The event is legally important, and also sends a strong political message, says Daniela Morari, Moldova’s ambassador to the European Union.
The Intergovernmental Conference will be an occasion to present the negotiation framework. The event will still take place during the Belgian presidency of the EU Council, which will then be handed over to Hungary on July.
“The Intergovernmental Conference is the first meeting in which the parties, the European Union, on the one hand, and the Republic of Moldova, on the other, agree on the negotiation framework and determine the steps to be taken next. The Intergovernmental Conference is the interface, the official meeting to launch accession negotiations. In Moldova, the decree was signed and the team of negotiators was established. So, all the formalities are completed on both sides and officially communicated. It is a classic practice followed by all the states that had accession negotiations with the EU. It is a step with both legal significance and a strong political message”, said Ambassador Daniela Morari during a Radio Moldova program.
According to the ambassador, Moldova has already completed the first stage of the explanatory screening, and in this process our country received assistance from Albania and North Macedonia, nations that started accession negotiations in 2022.
“The Intergovernmental Conference allows us to move on to the next step, which is the bilateral screening, or evaluation of the legislation. This procedure has already started and was divided into two stages, the explanatory screening, when the European Commission explained chapter by chapter what are the standards, norms and directives which Moldova needs to align itself to. We have already done this from February to May. We were lucky to have the openness and generosity of Albania and North Macedonia, who shared their experience with us, which saved us a lot of time. In their case, this exercise took almost a year, but we managed to do it in a few months. We now have an understanding of what is expected of us. In the next phase, it is already Moldova’s turn to explain where exactly we stand with the national legislation. Afterwards, discussions will begin on clusters and the accession chapters that each cluster includes”, said Daniela Morari.
On Friday, President Maia Sandu signed a decree formally initiating the accession negotiations on Moldova’s behalf, as Cristina Gherasimov, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, was appointed our country’s chief negotiator.
