London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Moldova, tiny, poor and bordering Ukraine, gets EU candidacy

Moldova, tiny, poor and bordering Ukraine, gets EU candidacy

The European Union announced Thursday that it has granted EU candidate status to Moldova, a poor non-NATO Eastern European country bordering war-torn Ukraine, which likely won’t enjoy the perks of full bloc membership for years to come.
Along the road, Moldova will need to enact reforms in areas such as tackling corruption, organized crime, strengthening human rights and the rule of law. The former Soviet republic — landlocked between Romania and Ukraine — applied to join the 27-nation bloc just days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Charles Michel, the European Council President and EU summit chair, tweeted the decision to give both Moldova and Ukraine candidate status, calling it a “historic moment” that “marks a crucial step on your path towards the EU.”

Since gaining independence in 1991, Moldova has been blighted by rampant corruption and powerful oligarchs. It’s often perceived as being stuck in limbo between pro-Russian forces and those, like pro-Western President Maia Sandu, that look to forge closer ties with the West.

“We are starting on the road to the EU, which will bring Moldovans more prosperity, more opportunities and more order in their country,” Sandu wrote online after the EU decision.

“We have a difficult road ahead, which will require a lot of work and effort — and which we are prepared to walk, together, to ensure a better future for citizens,” she added. “Moldova has a future in the European Union.”

In an article this week in various media outlets, Sandu described Moldova, Europe’s poorest country with a population of about 2.6 million people, as “a European land caught in geopolitical battles.”

“The ruthless and meaningless war against Ukraine reminds us that peace and freedom are no longer a given,” Sandu wrote, adding that Moldova’s bid to join the EU comes from “a strong desire to remain part of the free world.”

In April, tensions in the country soared following a string of explosions in Transnistria — a Russia-backed separatist region of Moldova where Russia bases about 1,500 troops — and raised fears that it could get dragged into the war.

Transnistria has a population of about 470,000 and has been under the control of separatist authorities since a civil war in 1992.

Joining the EU would not offer Moldova, which is constitutionally neutral, any security guarantees like NATO membership would.

The Commission said it will monitor Moldova’s progress in meeting the set-out criteria, and come up with a “detailed assessment” by the end of 2022.

The EU is Moldova’s largest trading partner and biggest investor. In 2020, about two-thirds of Moldova’s exports went to the EU and more than half of its total trade was with the bloc.

Dionis Cenusa, an analyst at the Chisinau-based think tank Expert Group, says that although it is “premature to speak of accession,” candidate status for Moldova can provide “an overall direction for the long-term development of the country.”

“The EU candidacy may be used by the government to calm the population and the business (community) in the context of the security crisis caused by the Russian war against Ukraine,” he told The Associated Press. “The reforms in Moldova will depend on the professionalism of the government, as well as the developments in Ukraine.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×