On Wednesday 17 January, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the screening process for Ukraine and Moldova had begun.
On Monday 15 January, a senior European diplomat told journalists, including EUROPE, that some Member States had complained about the delays in launching this process (see EUROPE 13328/15).
“In preparation for the accession negotiations, we are starting the screening process and are now putting in place the negotiating framework”, announced Mrs von der Leyen during a debate in the plenary session of the European Parliament on the outcome of the European Council of 14 and 15 December.
Later in the day, European Commission spokesperson Ana Pisonero confirmed that the process would begin “immediately” and that work on a draft negotiating framework had begun “with a view to submitting it to the Council in the coming weeks”.
The Commission will provide an update on the progress made by Ukraine and Moldova on the criteria still to be met before the European Council in March so that it can decide on the actual opening of accession negotiations.
Mrs von der Leyen gave MEPs an update on the latest progress. “In just a few months, (Ukrainians) have passed new laws to expand the rights of national minorities, improve the judicial system and ensure checks and balances on power. Last week, the Rada approved in first reading the lobbying bill that will curb the power of oligarchs”, she detailed, describing the achievements as “significant”.
At the December European Council, leaders also decided to open accession talks with Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina, subject to conditions, and to grant candidate status to Georgia (see EUROPE 13314/1).
So, while the EU is working on its enlargement, it is also beginning to “work on (its) own reforms to prepare for a Union of more than 30 Member States”, said Mrs von der Leyen. She announced that the Commission would set out its ideas on this matter in a communication to the European Parliament and the Council ahead of the leaders’ discussion organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
This communication could be presented on 27 February.
The Belgian Presidency has yet to set a date to discuss the reforms at the executive level. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)