All EU countries have agreed to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, announced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
"Today the European Union took an important step. All member states agreed to open the first cluster of accession negotiations," she wrote on social media platform X. According to her, this cluster covers the EU's fundamental principles and values, including "rule of law and democratic institutions."
Official negotiations will begin on June 15 at the first intergovernmental conference. The EU granted Ukraine and Moldova candidate status in June 2022. However, it acknowledged that this is largely a symbolic decision to support Kyiv and Chisinau in their conflict with Moscow.
In June 2024, the first intergovernmental conferences between the two states and the EU took place in Luxembourg, thus starting accession talks. These steps do not necessarily imply entry into the bloc and do not commit Brussels: they only mark the beginning of a long process towards joining the bloc.
Turkey has been a candidate since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, and Serbia since 2012. Croatia was the last to join the EU in 2013, a process that took ten years.