Posted by 
STRASBOURG — The EU should start membership talks with Moldova this year, members of the European Parliament said in an overwhelming but nonbinding vote today.
A majority of 448 EU lawmakers supported a resolution that reiterates the Parliament’s position accession talks should begin in 2023 and condemned attempts by Russia to influence Moldova’s pro-EU government. The European Commission is preparing a progress report on the enlargement of the EU, scheduled for November. In the vote today, 45 MEPs voted against and 43 abstained.
The signal from Strasbourg comes as European leaders including Moldova’s President Maia Sandu and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at the European Political Community in the Spanish city of Granada, where Ukraine’s entry to the EU is also being discussed.
Sandu said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, she “wholeheartedly welcomed” the Parliament statement, initially proposed by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centrist Renew group.
The EU is preparing to open accession talks for Ukraine in December.
European parliamentarians urged Moldova to carry on its internal reforms so it can meet the nine requirements set out by the European Commission. “I really hope the Commission sees all the progress Moldova made and will be once again bold and visionary with its upcoming assessment,” Romanian Renew lawmaker Dragoş Tudorache said in a statement.
EPP lawmaker Siegfried Mureşan, also from Romania, said Moldova’s entry into the EU should be considered in a package with Ukraine. The “readiness is clearer in Ukraine and Moldova,” compared to other candidate countries, he told POLITICO. “There is a clear difference between Moldova and some Western Balkans [countries] where reforms have not been progressing decisively.”
Nicholas Vinocur contributed reporting.
