[7] It is one of nine current EU candidate countries, together with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

[12] The response to the first part of the questionnaire was submitted back to the EC through the Delegation of the European Union to Moldova's head Janis Mazeiks by the Prime Minister of Moldova Natalia Gavrilița on 22 April,[13] while the responses to the second part were submitted on 12 May 2022.

The 2023 enlargement package report was released by the European Commission on 8 November 2023, including updates on Moldova's acquis alignment and a recommendation for the Council to open accession negotiations.

These include the loss of agricultural productivity due to the concentration of land ownership and business operations in multinational corporations, similar to what has occurred in other EU countries.

Additionally, Moldova's local industries face challenges, particularly the risk of decreased competitiveness in both domestic and international markets, which could result in plant closures and unemployment.

On 1 July 2016, the Association Agreement (AA) between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova fully came into force, following ratification by all 31 signatories.

[64] The parties committed to co-operate and converge economic policy, legislation, and regulation across a broad range of areas, including equal rights for workers, the exchange of information and staff in the area of justice, the modernisation of Moldova's energy infrastructure, and access to the European Investment Bank.

[citation needed] The Association Agreement commits Moldova to economic, judicial and financial reforms to converge its policies and legislation to those of the European Union.

[141] A March 2022 survey conducted by Magenta Consulting found that, after president Maia Sandu announced that her government had officially submitted an application for membership of the European Union, 61% of Moldovans (40% 'totally', 21% 'rather') were in favour of EU membership, up from 52% before the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In one, 98.4% voted in favour of joining the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia, while in the second 97.2% opposed further integration with the EU.

However, beginning in 2025, Moldovans will need to comply with the EU's ETIAS system before entering any of the EU/Schengen member countries.