Moldova and the European Union are holding a new Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels, where the country is set to officially open accession negotiations on Cluster 6 – External Relations.
Ukraine is also opening negotiations on the same cluster, while separate accession talks are taking place with Albania and Montenegro. According to European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, the EU has not held four intergovernmental conferences with candidate countries on the same day in more than two decades.
“This is a super Tuesday for EU enlargement. For more than two decades, we have not had four accession conferences in a single day. Today, Moldova and Ukraine, our frontrunner candidates, will open Cluster 6 on external relations,” Kos said.
She described the day as both a celebration and a reminder that candidate countries must continue delivering reforms.
“We have the support of the member states, but only if the candidate countries deliver results, and we should continue working toward that,” she added.
Moldova is represented at the Intergovernmental Conference by a delegation led by Acting Prime Minister Eugeniu Osmochescu. The opening of negotiations on Cluster 6 marks another step forward in the country’s European Union accession process.