"The future of Moldova and Ukraine lies in the European Union" - Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Commission President said this when delivering her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament on Wednesday, outlining the EU's main achievements as well as priorities and flagship initiatives for the future. Ursula von der Leyen said the future of Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkan countries lies in the EU, and added that the EU has seen the great strides Moldova and Ukraine have already made since they were granted candidate status. "I know just how important the EU perspective is for so many people in Georgia," the European Commission chief said. She also noted that "accession to the EU is merit-based - and the European Commission will always defend this principle." The MFAEI welcomed Ursula von der Leyen's statement, noting that our country has recently made significant progress towards EU accession. "We are proud of what we have done so far and we are determined to continue working on the implementation of the 9 recommendations of the European Commission, so that we have a positive opinion on the start of accession negotiations by the end of this year. Moldova, firmly based on European values and norms, will benefit both its citizens and the whole region," the Foreign Ministry said. Earlier, foreign mass media reported, citing diplomatic sources, that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU should as soon as possible resolve the issue of accepting Ukraine and Moldova against the background of new geopolitical realities in order to exclude the possibility of these countries falling into the spheres of influence of ideological opponents of the community. According to their information, the EC head told the EU ambassadors earlier in September that "the bloc needs to expand taking into account the new geopolitical realities". According to the interlocutors, Kyiv and Chisinau, as well as other candidates for EU membership, should speed up reforms in order to comply with the community's regulations and to be able to win political support from the bloc. //13.09.2023 - InfoMarket.
