The European Union (EU) opened the 6th negotiation chapter covering the "foreign relations" heading in Moldova's membership process.
According to the statement made by the EU Council, negotiations on the "foreign relations" chapter cluster with Moldova were officially launched at the Intergovernmental Accession Conference held in Brussels.
Making a statement regarding the opening of the cluster covering the 30th chapter (foreign relations) and the 31st chapter (foreign, security and defense policy), Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for European Affairs and Defense of Ireland, the Term President of the EU Council, stated that a new step has been taken in Moldova's membership process after the opening of the first set of negotiation chapters covering the basic issues last month.
Moldova applied for EU membership in March 2022, and gained candidate country status in June 2022. EU leaders decided to launch accession negotiations with Moldova in December 2023, while the first Intergovernmental Accession Conference was held in June 2024.
Today, the EU also moved to a new stage in the accession negotiations by opening the 6th negotiation chapter covering the "foreign relations" heading in the membership process with Ukraine.
On the other hand, the EU temporarily closed the "competition policy" and "customs union" chapters in the membership negotiations with Montenegro. Thus, the number of negotiation chapters temporarily closed in Montenegro, the candidate country at the most advanced stage in the EU accession process, increased to 18.