Metsola wants Ukraine accession talks to start by year’s end

Formal negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the European Union should begin by the end of the year, according to European Parliament President Roberta Mesola, who has called on member states not to “disappoint millions of people”.

“Instead of focusing on the date (…) – and it’s good that there is a date on the table – let’s focus on the hope of starting accession negotiations by the end of this year,” Metsola said in an interview with Lusa and other European news agencies in Brussels, at a time when 2030 is being put forward as the possible date for Ukraine’s entry into the EU.

The leader of the EU House insisted that “if Ukraine and Moldova are ready, accession negotiations should be able to start progressively”.

“Accession negotiations should be able to start progressively [because] each country has its own path, but let’s not disappoint the millions of people who look to Europe as their home,” she appealed.

Enlargement will be on the agenda at the third summit of the European Political Community, which will be held in the Spanish city of Granada on Thursday next week. The following day, an informal European Council will be held in Spain as part of the Spanish Presidency of the EU, which will also be devoted to the enlargement of the Community bloc.

“I’m looking forward to the discussions,” said Metsola.

The opening of formal accession negotiations requires the agreement of all EU member states, and this process aims to prepare a candidate country in terms of adapting legislation and implementing the necessary judicial, administrative and economic reforms.

In mid-2022, EU member states adopted a historic decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, which joined a large group of countries, some of which had long been in the ‘queue’ to join the European bloc, without any progress in recent years.

This list is now made up of Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Kosovo applied for EU membership in December 2022.

(Ana Matos Neves, edited by Nuno Simas | Lusa.pt)