Cristina Gherasimov: Screening for EU accession could be completed by October
The authorities of the Republic of Moldova reached the halfway point of the bilateral screening in the negotiation process regarding accession to the European Union, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Cristina Gherasimov, in the "La 360 de grade" show on Radio Moldova.
We managed to complete the comprehensive analysis of half of the chapters of European legislation. The first cluster was related to fundamental values, the second cluster was related to the internal market of the European Union and the sixth cluster, which was also concluded last week, is related to external relations. In these three clusters, we discussed each chapter separately, what stage we are at, how far we are from European standards for each policy chapter and how much time we have left to benefit from the same standards at home.
Also, Cristina Gherasimov said that the screening procedure is expected to be completed this year. The official pointed out that at the current stage, the previously proposed calendar is being respected and there is an opening to start the screening process on some chapters faster than expected.
Three more clusters or three groups of negotiation chapters are to come. These are much more complex than what we have gone through so far and we hope to stick to the calendar we have available today from the European Commission, which means that we plan to complete the full screening phase by October of this year.
We remind you that the Republic of Moldova submitted an application for membership of the European Union in March 2022 and was granted candidate country status in June of the same year. In December 2023, the leaders of the countries in the community bloc decided to open accession negotiations. On June 25, 2024, the first intergovernmental conference was held in Luxembourg, which officially launched the accession negotiations to the EU.
