European Commission puts forward proposals for draft negotiating framework for Moldova to European Council

Chisinau, 13 March /MOLDPRES/ - The European Commission has finished the draft frameworks of negotiating with Moldova and Ukraine and will submit them to the European Council. The European Commission, which is the European Union’s executive body, made statements to this effect in a press release, the European Integration Bureau has reported.    

At the same time, the Commission will orally inform the Council about the progress made by the two countries for implementing the recommendations formulated in the report on the 2023 EU’s Enlargement Package from 8 November.   

„The draft negotiating frameworks establish the orientations and principles for the negotiations on accession with each country candidate, and the drafts of the framework prepared are divided into three parts: 1) the principles which govern the negotiations on accession, 2) content of the negotiations and 3) procedure of negotiation. The goal of the negotiations is that Moldova and Ukraine adopt the EU’s acquis fully and ensure its full enforcement and observance,’’ the press release reads.  

The Commission stresses that the proposals for draft negotiating frameworks are based on the experience of the earlier enlargements and on the negotiations on accession underway of other states. They integrate the revised methodology of the European Union’s enlargement and take into account the evolutive character of the EU’s acquis.      

Therefore, the starting of the internal deliberations on these texts is within the Council’s competence now. Once the Council adopts the negotiating frameworks, the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union will present the common position of those 27 member states at the first inter-governmental conference with each country candidate, thus marking the official beginning of the negotiations on accession. The negotiating frameworks will be published following the approval by the inter-governmental conference.     

It is worth mentioning that, in December 2023, the European Council approved the opening of the negotiations on accession to the European Union with Moldova and Ukraine. The two states got the status of countries candidates on 23 June 2022.