12 EU member states issued a joint appeal to quicken the process of Ukraine and Moldova’s accession to the EU and to formally begin membership negotiations by the end of June. The letter sent to the Belgian Foreign Ministry was signed by the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Slovenia, Romania and Slovakia.
“We jointly call for the General Affairs Council to adopt the negotiating framework for Ukraine and Moldova no later than June to convene intergovernmental conferences with both countries by the end of this month,” the ministers wrote.
Belgium, which holds the EU presidency until the end of June, has been pushing for a solution to this issue in recent weeks. An intergovernmental conference with a candidate country marks the formal start of accession negotiations, which usually takes years. EU ambassadors are expected to return to this issue on June 7 with the possibility of a political decision.