Romanian MEP Dan Barna from the Renew Europe group called on Wednesday for the European Union to intensify efforts to open at least the first negotiation cluster with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in the near future, Agerpres reports.
“This is the moment for Europe to fulfill the promise so eloquently expressed by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola almost three years ago in Chisinau, when she said: ‘Europe is Moldova, Moldova is Europe.’ It is time for European institutions to prove this, and it is time for Hungary to stand alongside Europe again, because the stake of enlargement concerns not only Moldova’s specific situation, but also the credibility of the European project itself,” Barna told a group of Romanian journalists.
According to the vice-president of the Renew group, Budapest’s veto against Ukraine’s European integration plans blocks the process, and he said that EU institutions must resolve this situation within the next two to three weeks.
He also said that the distinction awarded to Maia Sandu and her speech in the European Parliament demonstrate that the Republic of Moldova has resisted Russian pressure and interference remarkably well despite several electoral cycles and difficult years.
On Tuesday, the European Parliament awarded Moldovan President Maia Sandu the title of honorary member of the European Order of Merit during its plenary session. She declared that the Republic of Moldova is ready to open all negotiations with the EU and expressed confidence that member states will find a solution to launch formal negotiations by the end of June, when the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU ends.
The European Council granted the Republic of Moldova candidate country status on June 23, 2022.
The Council approved the negotiation framework on June 21, 2024, under the revised enlargement methodology. Four days later, the European Union held the first intergovernmental conference with the Republic of Moldova, which launched the accession negotiations.
Accession negotiations proceed through intergovernmental conferences between ministers and ambassadors of EU member states and candidate countries. These negotiations cover the full body of European Union law (the EU acquis) and split into chapters or thematic clusters covering different policy areas. EU institutions can hold accession conferences at ministerial or deputy level.
On June 25, 2024, the EU held the first accession conference with the Republic of Moldova and officially launched the accession negotiations. Following Moldova’s progress and reforms, EU leaders repeatedly called on the Council to advance the process by opening the fundamentals cluster, in line with the enlargement methodology and the merit-based approach.