The European Council approved the start of negotiations on the accession of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to the European Union, political sources informed HotNews.ro.

Maya Sandu and Volodymyr Zelenskyi Photo: Andreea Alexandru / AP / Profimedia

European Council President Charles Michel officially announced the historic announcement in a post on social media platform X, saying that Georgia has also been granted candidate status.

“The European Council decided to start negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova. #EUCO granted Georgia candidate status. And the EU will start negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina when the necessary level of compliance with the accession criteria is reached, and has asked the Commission to report by March with a view to making such a decision. A clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent,” wrote Charles Michel on X.

On November 8, the European Commission recommended that the European Council approve the start of negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

Before the EU summit on Thursday and Friday. Hungary and Austria have announced that they oppose the decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine.

A day before the European Council, which includes EU heads of state and government, President Klaus Iohannis says there are “no guarantees” of a favorable response, but insists things could change after the talks.

“We have a question of expansion. The problem will arise for Ukraine and Moldova. From the information we have, not everyone is convinced that accession negotiations can begin. I clearly ask to start. These negotiations will be difficult, I hope we can get things moving. Moldova has made significant progress and deserves to go to the next stage. (…) Currently, there is no guarantee that the result will be positive. In politics, everything is solved by compromise. At the moment, we have to wait for the results of the negotiations,” Yohannis said.

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The news is updated

The news is updated