EU and Moldova open negotiations on external relations cluster

The EU and the Republic of Moldova opened negotiations on the so-called external relations cluster in the accession process. The move was announced as another step in Moldova's accession path under the Irish presidency.

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Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for European affairs and defence of Ireland, said the opening came one month after Cluster 1 was opened and showed the importance placed on the enlargement agenda. He described Moldova as a reliable partner for the Union and said the country had made remarkable progress since securing candidate status.

Cluster 6, "External relations," contains two negotiating chapters. The EU said it has set benchmarks for the future provisional closure of those chapters, and stressed that accession is a merit-based process.

It said monitoring of progress in alignment with, and implementation of, the EU acquis and relevant European standards will continue throughout the negotiations. The opening follows the second Accession Conference in Luxembourg on 15 June 2026, when negotiations on Cluster 1, Fundamentals, were opened.

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The revised 2020 methodology divides accession chapters into six thematic clusters, with 33 chapters in total.

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