Brussels – Moldova is moving swiftly along its path towards European integration. Following the historic step of opening the first cluster of accession chapters, the EU–Moldova Summit on 22 June – the second in less than a year, after the first-ever summit held in Chișinău in July 2025 – is expected to provide fresh momentum and strengthen the prospect of full EU membership within the next few years.
“This summit comes at a historic moment for both the EU and Moldova,” said European Council President António Costa, announcing the upcoming event. “Enlargement is a geopolitical and strategic choice for a stronger and more secure Europe, and we are firmly committed to Moldova’s EU path,” he added, noting also that the bilateral partnership is “closer than ever as we work together to strengthen our resilience, stability and shared European values.”
The 2026 EU-Moldova Summit will be attended by President Costa, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will represent the European Union, and Moldovan Prime Minister Maia Sandu.
First of all, the summit will provide an opportunity to assess Chișinău’s progress on reforms and to define the next steps in the accession negotiations following the opening of Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’. “The EU is ready to swiftly advance Moldova’s accession, based on its own merits,” the agenda reads. As EU officials explain, the Council is committed to doing “everything we can” to open the five remaining clusters “as soon as possible, in line with the merit-based approach,” while both Chișinău and the Commission expect this step to be taken on 14 July.
Gradual integration into the EU’s internal market will be another important topic of discussion. Chișinău is already part of the free roaming area and the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), but there is more that could be explored to “enhance Moldova’s preparedness for EU membership”. For example, the same EU sources anticipate that work is under way to integrate Moldova into the Erasmus+ programme “as early as 2028.”
Progress can build on the encouraging results of the Growth Plan for Moldova, the country’s largest financial package since independence. Chișinău “is delivering very quickly” on the reforms required for the disbursement of the €1.8 billion package. Of the 30 reforms due to be completed by the end of 2025, 28 have already been implemented and more than €500 million has already been disbursed, marking “the best performance” among candidate countries in terms of the absorption of EU financial support.
Sectoral cooperation is expected to cover energy security and diversification, trade and investment, transport connectivity, and, in particular, security and defence, “in light of Russia’s ongoing hybrid attacks,” ranging from interference in the electoral process to its continued military presence in the Transnistrian region and drone incursions into Moldovan airspace. “Russia contests Moldova’s European future, and this is why the opening of the accession negotiations is also important,” the sources point out.
The European Council conclusions on EU enlargement “will have an impact” on the Summit’s joint statement, EU officials make clear, explaining that “if there is clarity” in the text adopted by the 27 EU leaders on 18–19 June, “we can use almost the same text on Monday.” The latest draft – seen by The New Union Post – states that the European Council “looks forward to the opening of the other clusters as soon as possible, in line with the merit-based approach.”
The state of EU–Moldova relations
Just a week after the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, on 3 March 2022, Moldova submitted its application for EU membership. On 23 June 2022, the European Council endorsed the European Commission’s recommendation to grant Chișinău candidate status.
At the European Council meeting on 14 December 2023, EU leaders gave the green light to open accession negotiations. Following the Council’s approval of the negotiating frameworks, the first intergovernmental conference was held on 25 June 2024 in Luxembourg.
With Viktor Orbán‘s Hungary vetoing the start of Ukraine’s EU negotiations, Moldova’s accession was also put on hold, as Chișinău’s EU process was tied to Kyiv’s through the so-called “package approach” (which linked the two dossiers from the very beginning).
On 17 March 2026, technical guidance was provided by the Commission to continue work on EU reforms across all six negotiating clusters, before the change of power in Budapest and the agreement indirectly brought a new momentum for Moldova as well, paving the way for the opening of Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’ on 15 June.
