The European Commission has told EU member states that Ukraine and Moldova have met the necessary criteria to kick off formal negotiations on their accession to the bloc.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has injected a new sense of urgency into the EU’s enlargement policy, with Kyiv and Chisinau both granted candidate status just months after Russian tanks first entered Ukrainian territory in February 2022, Euronews reports.
But the accession process is notoriously long, with countries required to meet a series of judicial, constitutional, and economic reforms before Ukraine and Moldova can progress onto the next stage of their path to EU membership.
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Ukraine has completed outstanding reforms related to stifling oligarchs and corruption and protecting the rights of its national minorities, a Commission spokesperson confirmed on Friday. Moldova has tied up pending its judicial reforms.
It means the start of talks should be imminent, but diplomatic sources say the Hungarian government is currently blocking the move over concerns Ukraine is unprepared to join the 27-country bloc.
Before talks can kick off, member states must unanimously rubber-stamp the negotiating frameworks – which set out the principles and guidelines that will steer Brussels’ accession talks with both Kyiv and Chișinău – and also back the convening of an intergovernmental conference, the forum where talks begin.
“Now the decision is in the hands of the member states,” the Commission spokesperson said.