The European Commission (EC) has recommended opening European Union membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, granting candidate status to Georgia, and opening accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once compliance is achieved. Despite Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and Russia’s brutal war of aggression, Ukraine has continued to progress on democratic and rule of law reforms. The EC noted that Ukraine has established a transparent pre-selection system for Constitutional Court judges, reformed judicial governance bodies, and developed its track record of high-level corruption investigations and convictions. Ukraine has also demonstrated its capacity to align with the EU acquis, even during wartime.
Moldova, which applied for EU membership in March 2022, has continued reform efforts to strengthen democracy and the rule of law despite multiple challenges linked to Russia’s war of aggression. The EC noted that Moldova has launched a comprehensive justice reform, reformed its anti-corruption bodies, increased the number of investigations and convictions in corruption cases, adopted a de-oligarchisation action plan, and implemented new legislation to fight organised crime. The country has also enhanced civil society participation in decision-making and strengthened human rights protection.
