{"id":238721,"date":"2025-07-05T00:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T00:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/238721\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T00:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T00:11:14","slug":"eu-leaders-renew-backing-for-moldovas-eu-membership-ambitions-at-landmark-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/238721\/","title":{"rendered":"EU leaders renew backing for Moldova\u2019s EU membership ambitions at landmark summit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  By&amp;nbsp<b>Euronews<\/b>&amp;nbspwith&amp;nbsp<b>EBU<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\n         Published on<br \/>\n            04\/07\/2025 &#8211; 23:57 GMT+2<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-grey-6-180x22.svg\" width=\"180\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Senior officials from the European Union were in Moldova on Friday for a landmark bilateral summit to strengthen ties and reaffirm the bloc\u2019s commitment to EU candidate country, just months ahead of its parliamentary elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To support Moldova\u2019s EU integration and reform efforts, the bloc announced up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/2025\/07\/03\/moldova-pushes-for-eu-accession-but-brussels-hesitates-to-decouple-ukraine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>\u20ac1.9 billion in funding<\/strong><\/a> for 2025\u20132027 under the new Moldova Growth Plan &#8211; the largest EU financial package since the country\u2019s independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa met with Moldovan President Maia Sandu for the first EU-Moldova summit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNine months ago, we agreed on the growth plan for Moldova, and eight months ago, the people of Moldova have enshrined their European future in Moldova\u2019s constitution,\u201d said von der Leyen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a testament to Moldova\u2019s and our unwavering commitment&#8230; Moldova is constantly proving in making progress in the accession process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Von der Leyen and Costa reaffirmed EU support for Moldova\u2019s sovereignty amid Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine as well as continued hybrid threats to Moldova.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They condemned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/2025\/06\/03\/euronews-targeted-by-anti-moldova-disinformation-campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Russian interference<\/strong><\/a> and discussed measures to bolster Moldova\u2019s defences against foreign influence, disinformation and electoral manipulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sandu was optimistic about her nation\u2019s EU membership, describing how: \u201cFor the first time, we are being seen as a natural part of the European family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough this summit, the European Union is sending a clear message: Moldova matters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By&amp;nbspEuronews&amp;nbspwith&amp;nbspEBU Published on 04\/07\/2025 &#8211; 23:57 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Senior officials from the European Union were in Moldova on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[11783,2000,299,5187,1699,51099,13491,1220],"class_list":{"0":"post-238721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-antonio-costa","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-maia-sandu","14":"tag-moldova","15":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114797732496051172","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}