Odobescu: Our objective is to launch accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova by the end of the year
Romania supports the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in the process of accession to the European Union, with the objective of launching accession negotiations for both countries by the end of this year. The statement was made by Romanian Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu for RFI. The official said that Bucharest is involved both politically and technically in this process.
Romanian Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu praised the important efforts made by both Moldova and Ukraine in the process of accession to the European Union.
"I would like to underline the efforts that both countries, under difficult conditions, have made to implement reforms and to implement the recommendations of the European Commission. This has been recognized recently also by the European Commission and the Member States. It is very important to underline this, because we are talking here about legislative reforms, we are talking about extremely important administrative reforms, in a difficult period for both countries", said Luminița Odobescu.
At the same time, the head of the Romanian diplomacy also underlined Bucharest's role, both politically and technically, so that accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine can start by the end of this year.
"Our objective is to launch accession negotiations with both countries by the end of this year, and obviously Romania is actively involved at the highest level, we are talking about political and diplomatic steps, but also technical steps to support these countries in implementing reforms, so that we hope to succeed by the end of the year in launching EU accession negotiations," she said.
The Republic of Moldova, together with Ukraine, was granted the status of candidate country for accession on 23 June 2022. In order to start the actual negotiations for accession to the European Community, the nine conditions formulated by the European Commission need to be met, four of which are related to justice reform, while the others concern the fight against corruption, the fight against organised crime and the strengthening of administrative capacities for EU accession.
The first progress report was presented in Brussels in April. The final report will be prepared in the coming months, and the authorities hope that by the end of this year the EU bloc countries will agree to open accession negotiations.
