European Union ambassadors agreed on Friday formally to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, the Belgian EU presidency said, adding this would take place at intergovernmental conferences on June 25.
Belgium, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, said on social media post X that the decision should be officially cleared by finance and economy ministers meeting next Friday.
Opening talks with the European Union would be a morale boost for Ukraine as Russia’s forces are advancing in the Donetsk region and opening a new front in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
The agreement means that Hungary has dropped for now its opposition to Ukraine’s graduation to EU membership. Budapest, which has close ties to Moscow, has said it has doubts about European Commission’s assessment that Ukraine is ready.
The Commission said a week ago that both countries met all the criteria for accession negotiations formally to begin.
The 27 EU members have to agree unanimously agree to start the negotiations, which take years to conclude.
Belgium and the Commission had been keen to get agreement before Hungary takes over the rotating presidency from July 1 for six months.
Kyiv applied for EU membership in the weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and it was granted candidate status four months later.
While most people are understandably pumped about the accession talks withs Ukraine, I think I can speak for the majority of Romanians when I say that this is an amazing step towards safety and security for Moldova. Our little brother deserves more than just being used as a political battleground by Russia.
Given the Transnistria situation I fully expect that had Russia been more successful in Ukraine, Moldova would have been next
Belarus revealed the plans at the beginning of the war to go into Moldova right after Ukraine, so yes. That was exactly the plan
I’m still convinced Luka did that on purpose.
I’m convinced Putin was absolutely RIPSHIT with Luka over spilling the beans so completely.
Absolutely, along with the many other “mistakes” that Belarus made that conveniently minimize its entanglement in this war.
Looking at how the EU dealt with Cyprus: Nothing will change. All of Cyprus is EU member, yet the EU happily accepts Turkish occupation in the northern half.
I think this is a little different as (Greek) Cyprus joined after the island had already been divided, the conflict already frozen. Versus if an EU member is attacked anew, the collective defence article would be triggered. Still, it’s unfortunate that Cyprus still remains divided.
So exactly like Transnistria?