The Twenty-Seven of the European Union have decided this Monday in Luxembourg to take a new step in the accession process of Ukraine and Moldova, by agreeing to open discussions on two additional areas of the negotiations: competitiveness and the single market.
"I welcome the decision made today by the EU member states to open two new negotiation groups with Ukraine and Moldova. We hope to be able to open all remaining groups as soon as possible," stated the President of the European Council, António Costa, on social media.
Costa reacted this way to a post by the Irish Minister for European Affairs and Defence, Thomas Byrne, whose country holds the rotating Presidency of the EU and who has been responsible for announcing the opening of negotiations in clusters two and three with both Kyiv and Chișinău.
In practice, the upcoming rounds of dialogue regarding the accession of both states will focus, on one hand, on the free movement of goods, services, capital, and workers, and, on the other, on the competitiveness chapter, which includes issues such as economic and fiscal policy, as well as the fields of education and research.
These two blocks are part of the six clusters that group 33 of the 35 chapters of the negotiation framework for accession to the European Union, a scheme designed to verify that each candidate country fully meets the required conditions to become a member state.
Progress of Montenegro and Albania in their negotiations
The Irish Minister for European Affairs, who emphasized that "enlargement is a geopolitical necessity for the EU," also confirmed in his message on social media the provisional conclusion of three chapters in the case of Montenegro and one in the case of Albania.
"I am proud that (...) we have provisionally closed three more negotiation chapters. With 21 negotiation chapters already provisionally closed, Montenegro continues to advance towards the closure of all remaining chapters," Byrne declared, according to the statement from the EU Council regarding the provisional conclusion of negotiations in the chapters of economic and monetary policy, statistics, and social policy and employment.
With this new milestone, Montenegro has only twelve chapters remaining out of the 33 planned in its accession process, all of which are already open for negotiation.
Regarding these advances, António Costa has also expressed his satisfaction, who has emphasized that "the enlargement of the EU continues to advance, driven by reforms in the candidate countries and the firm commitment of the EU."
"Your future is in the European Union. Let us maintain this momentum," claimed the President of the European Council in reference to the four countries involved in these accession negotiations.