In a joint conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that it is impossible to imagine the future of the European Union without countries such as Moldova, Ukraine, and the Balkan countries. The high-ranking European official emphasized the need for the EU to address its expansion issue as soon as possible, including countries like Ukraine and Moldova in the European bloc, according to AP.
“Let’s engage in an exercise of imagination and envision the future of the EU. Can we imagine the European Union without Ukraine, without Moldova, without the Western Balkans? And are those parts of Europe under the influence of Russia or China? Impossible,” declared Von der Leyen.
The European Commission President believes that the issue of EU expansion should be addressed “as soon as possible” as reaching a conclusion will take time.
“Therefore, the direction is clear. And as a result, we now need to start thinking about how we ensure that Europe is whole, that those countries are part of the European Union,” added the President of the European Commission.
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It is worth mentioning that on June 23, the Republic of Moldova was granted the status of a candidate country for accession to the European Union. To initiate actual negotiations for EU membership, Moldova must fulfill the nine recommendations issued by the European Commission in June. The areas in focus include justice, the fight against corruption and organized crime, de-oligarchization, public administration, and public services reform, public finance management, strengthening the role of civil society in decision-making processes, and human rights protection. Over the course of one year, Chisinau has fulfilled three out of the nine recommendations. European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, asserts that our country has made significant progress in terms of respecting human rights but remains behind in the area of justice.
It should be noted that the authorities in Chisinau have previously declared that meeting the pre-accession conditions is the main goal of the Republic of Moldova this year. Thus, by the end of the year, Moldova aims to progress to the next stage – opening accession negotiations.