The European Commission announced the beginning of a detailed analysis of the legislation of Moldova and Ukraine, which will be the first step in the process of their accession to the EU.
According to foreign media reports, the European Commission is also working on a draft negotiating framework with the two countries, which it will present to the Council for approval at the next European summit, which will mark the official opening of negotiations on accession of Moldova and Ukraine. After the European Council gave the green light to EU accession negotiations in December, it is the European Commission that is putting in place some of the mechanisms and instruments necessary for this process. With their help, it will determine Moldova's and Ukraine's compliance with European legislation and tell them what they need to do to comply with it. The first step is a detailed analysis of the two countries' current legislation, and the European Commission has begun to prepare its teams of experts, as it did for the accession negotiations of all the countries that are now EU members. "The first step is for multidisciplinary teams to be set up, covering the entire acquis. You know that the screening process means the analytical examination of the EU acquis. You know that the EU acquis, when it comes to pre-accession negotiations, is divided into 33 chapters. So, again, the first step is now for interdisciplinary teams to be created, and the work will start immediately," the spokesperson for the EU Enlargement Commission, Ana Pisonero, said. However, in parallel, the EC continues to analyze how Moldova and Ukraine have already implemented what the EU recommended as a condition for the start of negotiations: the first set of legislative amendments grouped in 7 chapters. In December, the EC noted that both countries had implemented more than 90% of the recommendations, and it should now state that both countries have fully complied. But another document is needed to officially start negotiations: a negotiating framework, which includes all the steps, all the necessary measures and all the tools used by the EC to assess how the two countries will approach European legislation. The EC is also working on this document, which it will present to the Council, and its adoption will mark the official start of the negotiations. // 18.01.2024 - InfoMarket.
