Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Sees No Grounds for Claims of a “Decoupling” from Moldova on the EU Path

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says there is no reason to speak of a “decoupling” of Ukraine and Moldova in the European Union accession process following recent remarks by the President of the European Commission. As reported by European Pravda, the ministry provided this comment to journalists. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted that the statements made by Ursula von der Leyen after the EU-Moldova summit referred specifically to Moldova and did not compare or contrast Moldova with Ukraine. “Following the opening of the first negotiation cluster (Cluster 1), further progress in the accession talks is carried out according to the clearly established methodology of the European Commission, which provides for an individual assessment of each candidate country based on its achievements in meeting the Interim Benchmarks Assessment Report (IBAR) requirements,” the ministry stated. “At the same time, it should be noted that Ukraine and Moldova are moving through the negotiation process in a synchronized manner and are consistently passing the relevant stages of European integration. The EU has repeatedly acknowledged that both countries have fulfilled the necessary conditions for opening negotiation clusters. Therefore, there are no grounds for conclusions about any alleged ‘decoupling’,” the statement added. The ministry also stressed that Ukraine “expects a fair, objective, and balanced approach from the EU” throughout the enlargement process. Following the EU-Moldova Summit on June 22, von der Leyen stated that after the opening of the first negotiation cluster, each candidate country would continue its path toward European integration at its own pace, depending on the implementation of reforms. Meanwhile, Maia Sandu stated that Moldova is ready to open negotiations on all remaining clusters and argued that the other five negotiation clusters should be opened without delay. For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope that the remaining five clusters in Ukraine’s accession negotiations would be opened in the coming weeks.