EU Commission Struggles to Keep Up with Moldova’s Rapid Accession Reforms

The European Commission is shifting internal resources to support Moldova’s enlargement process after Chișinău’s reform pace exceeded the department’s capacity, according to EU officials speaking to Euronews.

Moldova’s government has enacted the necessary reforms at such speed that the Commission is now playing catch‑up, reallocating existing staff to monitor progress.

“Moldova’s strong track record on EU reforms is paying off. I recently spoke with Prime Minister Vasile Tofan about the next steps in the accession process,” said Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos on X on Tuesday.

The Commission’s enlargement department, already stretched thin by parallel progress in several candidate countries, has had to redirect resources to the top performers.

Forging ahead

Since Maia Sandu became president in 2020, Chișinău has aggressively pursued EU‑required reforms, forming a pro‑EU government with a solid parliamentary majority.

“The reforms we have implemented over the past five years are truly unprecedented,” said Cristina Gherasimov, Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on Friday.

“Our formula for success combines political will with the determination of our people to seize the current window of opportunity in the European Union,” she added.

The Commission, meanwhile, must confirm that candidates are implementing reforms correctly, which requires aligning its expertise with each country’s realistic pace of change.

Kyiv is likewise advancing its reform agenda, which gained new momentum after Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi assumed office in July. Nevertheless, the ongoing war and budgetary pressures continue to hinder its accession bid.

On Tuesday, the IMF published an analysis of the potential economic gains from EU membership for the Western Balkan states and Moldova, leaving out Ukraine due to its considerably larger size and active military conflict.

This swift technical progress contrasts with the political reality in the EU Council, where the accession tracks of Ukraine and Moldova remain coupled.

Political coupling

“Coupling” describes the informal practice of linking the accession processes of two countries.

Grouping candidates is especially helpful during ratification, as it enables member states to approve a single accession treaty — a approach used when Romania and Bulgaria entered the EU in 2007.

Ukraine and Moldova launched their accession tracks together in 2022, shortly after Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine. In December 2023, EU leaders opened accession negotiations with both countries at the same time.

Kyiv’s progress was subsequently stalled for two years by a Hungarian veto from Viktor Orbán, which stemmed from bilateral disagreements over the treatment of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region.

Momentum revived after Péter Magyar’s Tisza party displaced Orbán in April, leading Budapest and Kyiv to resume talks to settle their disputes. In June, Hungary lifted its veto on the first negotiation cluster.

The second of six clusters opened in July. Since then, however, Hungary has slowed the process again, as more than a decade of anti‑Ukraine rhetoric under Orbán makes swift advancement difficult for many Hungarians to accept.

Although the disagreement is strictly bilateral between Ukraine and Hungary, the coupling drags Moldova into its wake.

Expected departure

The coupling stems from major geopolitical factors. Moldova has long hosted a Russian military presence in Transnistria, so when war erupted in 2022 the country lay behind the front line, with Russian troops stationed on its territory.

The coupling is also vital for Kyiv, which views future EU membership as a lifeline that would anchor the country outside Russia’s sphere of influence.

Since Moldova entered the enlargement track alongside Ukraine, the argument holds that if Chișinău moved forward alone while Kyiv remains stalled by bilateral disputes, it would send an inappropriate political signal.

That is why Ukraine’s chief enlargement backers, especially the Baltic states, have advocated keeping the coupling intact throughout the cluster‑opening phase.

However, the technical aspect of accession—the reforms themselves—does not need to wait for the political track to catch up.

EU officials anticipate that the coupling of the two Eastern European countries will remain in place until all remaining clusters are opened. Afterward, the situation could change rapidly, assuming Moldova maintains its reform momentum.

“We have an ambitious target to conclude negotiations by early 2028,” said Gherasimov.

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