EU starts membership application process with Georgia, Moldova

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union on Monday officially started Georgia and Moldova on their road to possible membership in the bloc.

On the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxemburg, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi gave the European Commission’s membership application questionnaire to Ilia Darchiashvili and Nicu Popescu, the respective Georgian and Moldovan foreign ministers.

“This is the first step on your European path,” Varhelyi said on Twitter, announcing the official launch of the membership procedure.

“We are ready to go very fast, so the faster you fill it out, the faster we will be able to provide the opinion to the European Council,” he added.

On Friday, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, gave the same questionnaire to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during her visit to Kyiv, the capital of the embattled country.

Based on the aspirant’s reply and other sources, the European Commission will deliver an opinion if the country can receive candidate status and start membership negotiations in the first phase of the process.

EU leaders have to approve unanimously if they want to continue the enlargement process.

Zelenskyy applied for EU membership only four days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, asking for a fast-track application process.

Inspired by this request, the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova also presented their EU applications on March 3.