The statement of the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, after the meeting of the European Council

Good evening! We have good news. So, I decided to come and make a statement. I can tell you that a few minutes ago the Enlargement chapter was formally approved, meaning that the European Council decided to grant the start of accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova, as proposed by the Commission.

It was decided to grant candidate status to Georgia, and including Bosnia and Herzegovina we have a fairly positive text, with a positive decision likely to follow in the spring.

In this sense, congratulations to the Republic of Moldova, congratulations to Ukraine and good luck in the accession negotiations! This is the first result of today's Council and I think I am not exaggerating if I say that it is a historic result.

It is a very, very important step for Moldova, for Ukraine, and also for Georgia, and I am very optimistic that things will go well further.

Both the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine worked very hard, they managed to achieve remarkable progress in a record time, and these progress were seen and honored today by the European Council. We are going to discuss the other topics tonight and tomorrow and we are waiting to see what the conclusions will be.

Translated by: Radu Matei