The European Union is weighing whether to soon advance Moldova's bid to join the bloc, potentially putting it ahead of Ukraine in membership talks, Politico reported on Aug. 15, citing three diplomats and an EU official.
Brussels has been leading simultaneous accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova, but Kyiv's bid has been obstructed by Hungary and its Kremlin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orban.
Under the reported plan, EU ministers could agree in early September to open the first negotiating cluster with Moldova, a key legal step toward membership, ahead of the country's crucial parliamentary elections on Sept. 28.
Such a move would be a major boost for pro-EU President Maia Sandu and her party, which faces pressure from Moscow-backed forces. Four left-wing and center-left parties in Moldova are uniting to form a pro-Russian electoral bloc for the upcoming vote.
According to Politico, leaving Ukraine on hold risks straining ties with Kyiv. An undisclosed Ukrainian diplomat told the outlet that it could send a wrong signal to Ukraine, especially amid discussions on the country's future between the U.S. and Russia.
Both Ukraine and Moldova have met the requirements to open a first negotiating cluster, the European Commission said, but Ukraine's progress is stalled by opposition from Budapest. Without unanimous approval, Ukraine cannot move forward.
Diplomats are reportedly exploring ways to show some progress to Kyiv, such as access to the Horizon Europe research program or the Erasmus student exchange scheme.
Posted by John3262005
3 Comments
There’s zero doubt in my mind that we’ll string Ukraine along until we throw them to the wolves.
If Moldova is ready then they’re ready. Ukraine is not ready.
This kinda makes sense does it not? Moldova, under President Maia Sandu, has actually made some great fucking strides in meeting the criteria to join the EU. The European Commission noted progress in several reform areas, including justice reform, de-oligarchisation, investigation of financial crimes, and aligning foreign and security policy with the EU. The EU has also released hundreds of millions (if not billions) for infrastructure & energy projects, and that money has been utilized appropriately rather than wasted on corruption. At the same time, they are pivoting away strongly from Russia’s energy dominance and towards energy links to the EU (especially through Romania). Chișinău is also aggressively countering Russian electoral threats (especially disinformation) AND they actually got a majority of the electorate to vote in favor of joining the EU. Obviously they have a lot to go but let’s be real here; Moldova has a lot stronger case for advancing EU ascension than Ukraine does. Like yes I hope one day Ukraine is also in the EU but I don’t see why Moldova should be held back, especially since Moldova has advanced much further than Ukraine. The EU has tried for years to getting both nations in together and neither ended up joining. Let’s decouple them. Obviously I still think the EU should boost support to Ukraine but Ukraine is nowhere near meeting the criteria for EU membership. Moldova is much closer. At the same time, Moldova has very crucial parliamentary elections at the end of September against a unified pro-Russia bloc so let’s solely focus on advancing Moldova’s bid, which would be well-deserved AND would help Maia Sandu’s goals in keeping a pro-EU parliamentary majority. And if she gets that majority, it would be a lot easier to help smoothen the pathway for Moldova to EU membership. On top of all that, the simple fact is that Orban the rat opposes Ukraine joining the EU. EU spent years trying to convince him to no avail. He does not seem to have opposition to Moldova joining. Decouple the 2 nations ascension bids ASAP and move forward with Moldova.