Cypriot presidency of Council of European Union invites Moldova, Ukraine to EU accession talks

CHISINAU. June 4 (Interfax) - The Cypriot presidency of the Council of the European Union has invited Moldova and Ukraine to the first cluster of EU accession talks, Moldovan Ambassador to the EU Daniela Morari said on Thursday.

She posted the notice from the Cypriot presidency on social media. The latter said that the Republic of Moldova "had met every condition necessary, and preparations for opening negotiations with Cluster 1 Fundamentals were about to start."

Morari thanked the Cypriot presidency of the Council of the European Union "for its strong support and leadership, as well as for its continued efforts to advance the enlargement process."

Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Cristina Gherasimov also welcomed "the new important steps towards the formal advancement of the process of the Republic of Moldova's accession to the European Union." "For us, this moment means continuing our homework: reforms, alignment with European standards, and preparation for the official opening of all negotiation clusters," she said on Facebook (an information resource of Meta Platforms Inc., designated as extremist and banned in Russia).

The Council of the European Union will continue to discuss the finalization of this process that will allow the first cluster of negotiations to be officially opened, she said.

Euractiv said in late May, citing a senior representative of the European Commission, that the European Commission would offer the General Affairs Council on June 16 to open the first of six clusters of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

"The opening of each cluster requires unanimous approval from all 27 EU governments and vetoes can also halt negotiating progress if candidate countries are deemed to be backsliding on reforms. The first such 'cluster' in talks concerns the EU's essential democratic, economic and institutional pillars," Euractiv said.

Cluster 1. Fundamentals is the first to open and the last to close in EU accession talks. It embraces such areas as the supremacy of law, the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform, anti-corruption measures, and human rights, including the rights of ethnic minorities. According to the European Commission, progress in this cluster determines the overall pace of accession talks.