Ukraine and Moldova sign memorandum on cooperation in EU accession process

On Tuesday, 18 February, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of the European Union’s General Affairs Council in Warsaw, Poland, Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine, and Cristina Gerasimov, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of Moldova, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of European integration and the EU accession process.

“I am pleased to sign a document with you today that will only strengthen cooperation between our two countries on the path to EU membership. Despite the times of global turbulence, European integration remains an unchanging goal for our countries, and we are ready to go hand in hand,” said Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna.

The signed Memorandum is aimed at promoting mutual cooperation between Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the exchange of knowledge in the field of European integration to successfully prepare for accession and full membership in the European Union.

The document defines cooperation in the field of European integration and the negotiation process on EU accession in the following areas:

• accession to the EU, including the enlargement process and accession negotiations;
• exchange of knowledge, experience and practice of negotiations between negotiators and the negotiating team, other experts involved in the accession negotiations;
• exchange of information and know-how for harmonisation of national legislation with EU legislation, ensuring its effective implementation and bringing it in line with EU acquis;
• exchange of knowledge and experience on the implementation of EU policies in the negotiating clusters;
• exchange of knowledge and experience in fundamental areas of the rule of law, in particular judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organised crime, fundamental rights, the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration reform, as well as economic criteria;
• exchange of information and know-how on financial support from the European Union;
• exchange of information on a communication strategy for society on EU integration.

An Action Plan will be developed and adopted to implement cooperation in these areas.

The Memorandum envisages cooperation in the identified areas, in particular through regular meetings of the chief negotiators and their negotiating teams, as well as within the framework of the joint working group established to organise and implement the measures envisaged by the document.

In addition, joint events, meetings, seminars, trainings, study visits and business trips are envisaged to exchange professional experience and knowledge of the European integration process.