Moldova hoping to see clear prospect for accession to EU next week - FM

CHISINAU. June 9 (Interfax) - The European Commission will present a conclusion next week to recommend the next steps to be taken by EU members in their relations with Moldova.

"We are hoping to see a clear prospect of accession to the EU and to gradually move towards the candidate status. This is our hope, over these days and weeks we are really going through a very important stage of our European aspirations," Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu said on social media on Thursday, after his visit to Brussels.

He said he had used the visit to Brussels to convince as many European Commission members as possible that Moldova is a European country that deserves accession to the EU with the assistance of European institutions.

"This is a very important moment to do everything possible to influence the stance of member states and the European Commission so that Moldova makes headway in the accession to the EU in the coming weeks," Popescu said.

On June 17, the European Commission will present a conclusion to recommend the next steps of EU member states in regard to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, which applied for admission to the EU at the beginning of March.