MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Moldova will not join the European Union in the coming years, and everybody understands that already, the republic’s former President Igor Dodon told TASS in an interview.

"Everybody understands already that Moldova will not be an EU member in the coming years. True, Brussels has pledged that the first [phase of] negotiations will begin in the coming days, but the Europeans themselves - and our delegation has lately visited Brussels - acknowledge that becoming a member of the European Union will be very challenging and that it will not happen soon," said Dodon, the leader of Moldova’s largest opposition Party of Socialists.

While Moldovan President Maia Sandu has devolved into rhetoric about unification with Romania to blackmail Brussels, the politician said, Brussels itself has opposed such scenarios over what he called "certain risks."

Moldova was officially granted EU candidate status in 2022, and accession negotiations were formally launched in the summer of 2024. Earlier, Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi stated that the former Soviet republic was ready to consider joining the EU without full membership rights by the 2028 presidential election.

Even Moldova and Ukraine will embark on the first phase of EU membership negotiations later on Monday, the process does not impose any deadlines for accession to the EU as demonstrated by Turkey which entered into EU accession negotiations in 2005 and is still not close to joining the bloc after 21 years.