Home › Opinion › What Moldova's accession decree signalled in June 2024
What Moldova's accession decree signalled in June 2024
Summary
A look back at 21 June 2024, when Moldova's president signed the decree opening EU accession talks, amid other Ukraine-related announcements.
What did it mean when Moldova's president, Maia Sandu, signed a decree on 21 June 2024 to begin negotiations on her country's accession to the European Union? On that date, the signature set the process formally in motion. Sandu also announced that the first Moldova–EU intergovernmental conference would take place on 25 June.
The decree sat within a wider enlargement agenda that, as reported at the time, covered both Moldova and Ukraine. The two countries' accession tracks were presented together under the heading of EU enlargement.
Other signals from the same days
The preceding day brought two further developments linked to the war. On 20 June 2024, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced sanctions on firms based in China, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, citing their alleged support for Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Also on 20 June 2024, Ukraine was prioritised first among the countries due to receive ordered deliveries of MIM-104 Patriot missile systems from the United States.
Reading the moment
These items concerned different actors and different instruments: a presidential decree, sanctions and air-defence deliveries. What they shared was timing. Within about two days, a diplomatic step towards EU membership for Moldova, a sanctions measure targeting third-country firms and a priority placement for Ukraine in Patriot deliveries were each announced.
For Moldova, the practical next step was already scheduled: the intergovernmental conference on 25 June.
