Cristina Gherasimov: Moldova more prepared for EU accession than expected
The Republic of Moldova has successfully completed the bilateral screening process, a crucial step in the journey toward European Union accession, as announced on Monday, September 22, in Brussels by Cristina Gherasimov, the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration.
The official stressed that the assessment of national legislation in relation to the European legislation demonstrated that the Republic of Moldova is better prepared for EU accession than initially estimated.
“In the last 15 months, we have gone through a rather complex process. Over 1,000 experts from our side and over 1,000 from the European Commission were involved. The screening allowed us to understand exactly what we have to do in the coming years to prepare the Republic of Moldova for accession,” stated Gherasimov.
The process covered the 35 chapters of the community acquis and, according to the deputy prime minister, one of the most difficult chapters was the one related to the environment, due to the large volume of legislation and the necessary investments.
“Water, air quality – all this does not change overnight. These are major investments that will contribute to a higher quality of life for citizens”, she said.
At the same time, the Republic of Moldova was appreciated for the progress made in the field of energy, where reforms in recent years have laid the foundations for an independent energy system.
"The European Commission was pleasantly surprised by the fact that we are already very well aligned with a large volume of European legislation. In fact, we are much better off than we would have expected", added Gherasimov.
In the absence of an immediate decision by the EU Council on the start of negotiations, the authorities in Chisinau continue to prepare official negotiating positions.
Gherasimov announced that today, in Chisinau, public consultations are taking place on the draft positions for Chapters III (Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth), IV (Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity), and V (Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Cohesion).
"We are consulting civil society, the business community and all interested parties. Their opinions and recommendations will be integrated into the official documents that we will present to the European Commission", explained the Deputy Prime Minister.
We remind that the screening process represents a detailed analysis of the compliance of national legislation with EU norms and is a mandatory step before the opening of accession negotiations.
The Republic of Moldova obtained EU candidate status in June 2022 and began bilateral screening in the summer of 2024. The Moldovan authorities declare themselves ready for the next stage of European integration and await a favorable decision from the EU Council on the official opening of negotiations.
Previously, officials from Brussels announced that negotiations could begin by the end of this year.
