Moldova’s EU accession negotiations should start this year, MEPs say – POLITICO

STRASBOURG — The EU should begin accession negotiations with Moldova this year, members of the European Parliament said today in an overwhelming but non-binding vote.

A majority of 448 MEPs supported a resolution which reiterates Parliament’s position said accession negotiations should begin in 2023 and condemned Russia’s attempts to influence the pro-EU Moldovan government. The European Commission prepares a progress report on EU enlargement, scheduled for November. In today’s vote, 45 MPs voted against and 43 abstained.

The signal from Strasbourg comes as European leaders, including Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meet at the European Political Community in the Spanish city of Granada, where Ukraine’s membership is also being discussed to the EU.

Sandu said in a post onformerly Twitter, it “wholeheartedly welcomed” Parliament’s statement, initially proposed by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centrist Renew group.

The EU is prepares to open membership talks for Ukraine in December.

European parliamentarians have urged Moldova to continue its internal reforms in order to be able to meet the nine requirements set by the European Commission. “I really hope that the Commission will see all the progress Moldova has made and will once again be bold and visionary in its next assessment,” Romanian Renew MP Dragoş Tudorache said in a statement. statement.

EPP MP Siegfried Mureşan, also from Romania, said Moldova’s entry into the EU should be considered as part of a deal with Ukraine. “The preparation is clearer in Ukraine and Moldova,” compared to other candidate countries, he told POLITICO. “There is a clear difference between Moldova and some Western Balkan (countries) where reforms have not progressed decisively. »

Nicholas Vinocur contributed reporting.