Brussels ends political pairing of Ukraine and Moldova in аccession talk

After opening the first cluster in their EU accession negotiations, Ukraine and Moldova will advance towards membership on separate tracks, with progress determined by the pace and scope of reforms delivered by each country, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said following the EU-Moldova Summit on Monday.

Speaking alongside European Council President António Costa and Moldovan President Maia Sandu, von der Leyen stressed that, once the first negotiating cluster has been opened, responsibility shifts to individual candidate countries.

“Once the first cluster is open, every candidate country is responsible for itself. Because they have to deliver reforms, and they have to deliver different reforms, depending on what candidate country we’re talking about,” she said.

Responding to questions about the opening of further negotiating clusters, von der Leyen underlined that she was speaking specifically about Moldova, given the focus of the summit.

“I think the merit-based process is much more important for Moldova than the term ‘as soon as possible’. Because ‘as soon as possible’ does not say anything. But a merit-based process tells you very clearly, on the basis of our methodology that has been agreed by all 27 member states,” she commented.

The development is also in line with the long-standing preference of the Moldovan authorities, who have consistently argued that Chişinău’s accession prospects should be assessed on their own merits rather than being tied to the considerably more complex circumstances surrounding Ukraine.

Von der Leyen argued that the accession process benefits Moldova more when it is assessed strictly on merit, as this provides clear benchmarks for reforms while allowing the EU to honour its own commitments.

The initial decision to package Ukraine and Moldova together was widely viewed as a political instrument designed to overcome resistance from member states such as Hungary, which consistently blocked progress on Ukraine while raising no objections to Moldova. With the first negotiating cluster now open and accession talks entering their substantive phase, that tactical necessity has largely disappeared.

Maintaining an artificial linkage between the two candidates would have created the risk of individual member states using the progress of one country as leverage in bilateral disputes involving the other. Brussels appears determined to neutralise that risk through a gradual de-coupling of the two accession tracks, allowing Moldova to proceed through a clearer and potentially faster process.

Costa echoed von der Leyen’s view, stressing that a country’s progress will depend entirely on the speed with which it implements reforms. He noted that Moldova had demonstrated strong momentum in delivering on its commitments.

At the same time, the European Council President argued that the current geopolitical environment requires greater urgency from both candidate countries and member states.

“Both candidate countries and member states must understand and feel the urgency of meeting commitments,” Costa said.

“That does not mean forgetting the criteria. It means everyone must work harder and faster to meet the criteria and move forward as quickly as possible.”

The comments come as debate continues over the future pace of Ukraine’s accession process. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar recently said he opposes the opening of all negotiating clusters with Ukraine and claimed his position is even firmer than that of his predecessor, Viktor Orbán. Magyar also said he had succeeded in removing references to Ukraine’s rapid accession from the conclusions of a recent EU summit.

All EU member states agreed on 15 June to open the first negotiation cluster for both Ukraine and Moldova. The two countries were granted candidate status in June 2022, and in January 2025 the European Commission recommended launching formal negotiations to align their legislation with EU standards.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that the remaining five negotiating clusters could be opened in the coming weeks.

Ukraine is fighting an existential war while grappling with enormous pressures related to macroeconomic stability, security and the future reconstruction of a vast territory. Moldova, by contrast, is a small and compact economy of fewer than three million people, facing administrative and legislative alignment challenges of a completely different scale.

Unlike the accession processes of Bulgaria and Romania, whose economic structures and overall scale were broadly comparable, linking Moldova’s progress to the pace of a country engaged in a full-scale war risks creating a slowdown in Chişinău’s European integration path.

Source: European pravda, The new voice of Ukraine, Euronews

Caption: President of the European Council Antonio Costa (L) and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (R) welcome President of Moldova Maia Sandu (C) ahead of the EU-Moldova Summit in Brussels, Belgium, 22 June 2026. The second summit between the European Union and Moldova takes place one week after the opening of the first cluster of accession negotiations, ‘Fundamentals,’ and focuses on Moldova’s EU membership path, reform efforts, economic integration, and continued European support through the EU Growth Plan for Moldova. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET