BRUSSELS, December 14. /TASS/. The European Union has decided to start negotiations on the admission of Ukraine and Moldova, as well as to grant candidate status to Georgia, European Council President Charles Michel said.

"The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova," he wrote on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter). It also "granted candidate status to Georgia," Michel blogged.

"And the EU will open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is reached and has invited the commission to report by March with a view to taking such a decision," the European Council chief wrote. He called the summit’s decision "a clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent."

Accession talks do not set concrete timeframes for a country's admission to the EU, they can continue indefinitely. For example, talks on Turkey’s EU membership were launched back in 2005 and prospects are still unclear.