Brussels – A two-day visit to Brussels aimed at strengthening Moldova’s role and advancing its path towards EU membership in discussions with the newly appointed leaders of the EU institutions. Like Ukraine, Moldovan President Maia Sandu has set a clear objective: to open the first EU accession negotiation cluster in the first half of 2025, during Poland’s Presidency of the EU Council.
“We reaffirmed our strong partnership and discussed advancing Moldova’s EU integration, boosting the economy, reforming the justice system, and strengthening overall resilience,” President Sandu said following her meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 10 December. During the meeting, the European Commission approved the disbursement of €50 million—€45 million in loans and €5 million in grants—as the final instalment of the €295 million Macro-Financial Assistance programme for Chișinău.
On 11 December, President Sandu also discussed “our shared commitment to building a stronger, more resilient future for our citizens” with President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola; “hybrid threats and foreign interference” with EU High Representative Kaja Kallas; and “the continued progress we will achieve together” with President of the European Council António Costa. During her meeting with Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, discussions focused on Chișinău’s EU accession path, particularly on “helping bring us to the finish line of this journey, which promises better lives for all Moldovans.”
Both Ukraine and Moldova aim to open ‘Cluster 1: Fundamentals’ of the EU accession negotiations by 30 June 2025, relying on the Polish Presidency of the EU Council to advance the evaluation of their alignment with the opening benchmarks for this first cluster of chapters. These chapters focus on economic criteria, the functioning of democratic institutions, and public administration reform, encompassing five of the total 33 chapters. A positive assessment from the European Commission must be followed by a letter from the EU Council Presidency to the candidate country, approved by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU (COREPER).
Moldova’s path towards the EU
One week after the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, on 3 March 2022, Moldova submitted its request for EU membership. On 23 June 2022, the European Council endorsed the European Commission’s recommendation to grant Chișinău candidate status. In the 2023 Enlargement Package, the Commission also recommended that the Council open accession negotiations, a decision taken during the EU leaders’ summit on 14 December. Finally, following the EU Council’s approval of the negotiating frameworks on 21 July 2024, the first intergovernmental conferences took place on 25 June in Luxembourg.
Chișinău is among the top recipients of bilateral assistance from the European Union in recent years, receiving €467 million between 2022 and 2024, including €140 million in 2023 alone, of which €59 million was specifically allocated to support EU integration. On 10 October, President von der Leyen proposed a new €1.8 billion Growth Plan for Moldova, which is currently under review by the EU co-legislators. Additionally, Chișinău is the second-largest beneficiary of the European Peace Facility—after Ukraine—with €137 million provided since 2021 to strengthen its armed forces.
