Moldova has already opened four of the six EU negotiation clusters and 25 of 33 chapters, analyst Angela Grămadă told Adevărul, against the backdrop of enlargement commissioner Marta Kos’s visit to Chișinău. The technical steps are real, but the next two years — with local elections in 2027 and a presidential race in 2028 — will also test the political resilience of the European path.

Grămadă called Kos’s message balanced and merit-based, without handing Moldova’s pro-Russian opposition an easy propaganda hook. Technically, she said, Chișinău has met much of what was agreed with EU institutions on aligning laws and making agencies work.

The European Commission’s 2026 report confirms the cluster openings: fundamentals (June), external relations (July), internal market and competitiveness (October). Brussels assesses all six clusters as ready to open; what remains, in practice, are the last negotiation groups and member-state decisions.

The hardest piece is still cluster 1 — governance, fundamental rights, justice and anti-corruption — which opens last in the accession logic. Without hard progress on those fundamentals, speed on other chapters does not guarantee closed negotiations.

The Commission has also floated a roadmap aiming to provisionally close up to 25 chapters in 2027, conditional on interim rule-of-law benchmarks. Chișinău’s goal remains wrapping up talks toward 2028 and joining around 2030 — an ambitious calendar, not an automatic right.

Grămadă warns that the 2027 local vote will test Russian interference ahead of higher-stakes races. CEC mechanisms, civil society and independent media are, in her reading, the tools that can keep sabotage visible — not a guarantee the fight is already won.

Meanwhile reforms carry social costs that people feel unevenly. Moldova’s EU path is therefore both a technical file nearing the next stage and a domestic political exam, with Moscow still in the game.

Source consulted: Moldova moves closer to the next EU accession stage — Adevărul