Moldova has fully fulfilled three of the European Commission's nine recommendations issued a year ago and has made "good progress" in two other areas, according to a report presented to European ambassadors on June 21. 

The progress is encouraging for the country that submitted its accession request last year, which was accepted by the EU in June 2022, and hopes to start membership negotiations by the end of this year.

However, it falls short of the more ambitious expectations expressed by Prime Minister Dorin Recean, who recently said that all nine recommendations would be met by June’s interim assessment.

The oral, non-written report will be submitted to foreign ministers of member countries next week in Stockholm.

Moldova "should focus on confirmed efforts to combat corruption, on the quality of investigations and efficiency of prosecution in case of de-oligarchization and on the recommendations of the Venice Commission," the Commission stressed in the report consulted by Radio Free Europe.

The European Commission will assess the progress of Moldova and two other aspiring members, Ukraine and Georgia, in October, when a decision on starting accession negotiations may be issued.

The authorities in Chisinau have reportedly fulfilled all measures recommended by the European Commission regarding the involvement of civil society in the decision-making process (requirement #8) and in the field of human rights protection (requirement #9), according to a summary of the report, consulted by Free Europe Moldova.

Also, the Moldovan authorities managed to completely remedy the legislative deficiencies identified by the Venice Commission (requirement #2).

In terms of justice reform (requirement #1, perhaps the most important) and public finance management (#7), Moldova has achieved "good progress", which means that more than half of the measures requested by Brussels have been met.

In the other four areas, the government in Chisinau managed to make only "some progress", meaning it fulfilled certain tasks, but the most important actions are still awaited.

Thus, Moldova has achieved some progress in the fight against corruption (requirement #3), but effective actions of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office and the National Anticorruption Center and improvement of the quality of investigations are still needed.

In terms of "de-oligarchisation" (requirement #4), there is still work to be done, in particular, the recommendations of the Venice Commission must be fulfilled and competition policy must be strengthened.

Some progress has been made in the fight against organised crime (#5), including asset recovery, fight against financial crimes, and money laundering, but further laws are needed.

The European Commission also recommended that the country continue public administration reform (#6), where it has so far managed to make only some progress.

Of the other countries from the EU’s eastern neighbourhood, Ukraine has fully achieved two of the seven conditions put forward by the European Commission and has made some progress in the others. 

Georgia met three out of its 12 recommendations, but made no progress on media pluralism, according to the report, and only limited progress on de-oligarchisation. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the threat to the stability of other countries in its near neighbourhood, revitalised the EU enlargement process. 

While the process has dragged on for years for countries from the Western Balkans — in particular North Macedonia, which applied to the bloc in 2004 —there was a much quicker route to achieving candidate status for Moldova and Ukraine.