So yeah if you could please comment on Moldova's parliamentary elections result, what it means for the Moldovans but have the Brussels perspective

on on this and also how is this clearly pro-European vote

yeah seen here in the light of of the the the attacks.

On the election process, meaning cyber attacks, bombs,

bomb alerts, and so on and so forth.

Before giving the floor to Guillaume, I am pleased to also quote the social media

posts from President von der Leyen on the elections of Moldova this morning, where she recalls.

That Moldova has made a clear choice for freedom, for democracy, for Europe, and she also tackles the issue you mentioned by saying that no attempt to

sow fear or division could break the resolve of the Moldovans people to vote and as I said,

to vote for freedom, for democracy and for Europe. Guillaume, you may want to compliment. Thank you, Pana.

Yes, so yesterday, the, democracy and the will of the Moldovans people won.

Moldova has made a clear choice for freedom, democracy, and Europe.

Despite all the Russian interference and the money Russia spent trying to buy votes,

intimidate and spread lies, Russia failed.

We are impressed by the resilience of the Moldovans people and their

determination to keep the country on the right track towards democracy and prosperity.

The EU looks forward to working with the new With the new parliament and the incoming government,

and we will continue supporting Moldova's strategic objective towards EU accession as anchored in the constitution.

The EU remains a committed and reliable partner for the Moldovans and for Moldova.

I'm still quoting from President von der Leyen's social media post,

our door is open and we will stand with Moldova every step of the way.

And if you allow me to then go back to your other question on how the elections took place and,

and the challenges, and the challenging situation, As we have seen,

Russia has heavily tried to interfere in these elections.

We fully trust the Moldovans authorities with investigations to look into the different cases.

The Moldovans authorities have made significant efforts to uphold the integrity

of the elections and the democratic choices of the Moldovans citizens.

Yes, questions still to Guillaume, please go ahead. Thank you, Xenia Polska Deutsche Welle.

I have a question about the future of Moldova because prior to the elections we spoke with several experts who all share the opinion that

even despite the fact that Moldova passed this test, still the democracy and the institutions in Moldova,

especially under such heavy Russian influence, are very weak.

So, would you consider as the commission to take any additional steps for protecting Moldova from this ever increasing Russian influence because it's obvious that Russia will not stop its attempts to influence Moldova in in any way,

and what could these measures or if there are any additional measures for supporting Moldova and its resilience,

what could these measures be? Thank you.

I think the election results confirm that Moldovans support for their country,

future, and for their expectations to continue reforms.

This is really for the benefits for the benefits of all the Moldovans people.

So the EU will continue to stand.

With Moldova, as I said, and as the new government also undertakes this work more into the what the concrete measures,

I mean we we expressed already last week the the very important support that the EU delivers,

I mean continues to deliver to.

To Moldova, we have obviously the political support, we,

we work on the on the accession process at full speed ahead.

We managed to, to finalize the screening process of all the

clusters last week so it shows the determination on both sides.

We also have financial support that is quite significant.

We're talking about €1.9 billion to Moldova throughout the growth plan.

We have clear also, initiatives really for, for the benefits of citizens and when it comes to, strengthening democracy and, and the hybrids were, by Russia,

we have a series of instruments already, in place, which we, we,

we detailed last week and we'll continue to really to to capitalize on what we have done.

And we look in the future how perhaps this can be further reinforced but as we have seen here there was a clear determination from, from,

from also from from Moldova to to make sure that the elections could could take place

in an environment that was that led to the results today. Thank you. Yes, a follow up.

Yes, a question on Moldova, and not only on Moldova, the best way to support Moldova on its way to Europe,

to the European Union is to open the negotiation cluster, at least the first one,

and also the same thing is that Ukraine is waiting.

Today, the media wrote about the initiative of António Costa, President of the Council, to open the clusters for Ukraine and probably Moldova without yes from Hungary,

so it is possible to open clusters with a qualified majority and closed clusters with.

Does the Commission know anything about this proposal?

Did the Commission experts make some examinations, some research of these proposals,

and do you have any position on that to

open negotiation clusters for Ukraine and Moldova without unanimity?

We have expressed already several times our opposition here, but I'm happy to reiterate and also in the context of the Moldovans elections

I think it's very clear to mention from my side that our

position is that we should open cluster one for Ukraine and Moldova.

They have done the work, they have met the criteria,

meaning the roadmap on rule of law and the action plan on minorities for Ukraine.

So the opening of a cluster one should happen without any further delay.

This is what we have always defended a merit-based approach and in this case

we believe there is no objective reason to oppose the opening of cluster one.

Now on the discussions that are ongoing.

It's really for the member states to decide on the next steps,

and we hope that we will be able to open close to one as soon as possible.

From our side, what we need to do and what we will continue to do is to provide the necessary support to Moldova

and Ukraine and also the necessary work to put the member states in a position to take a decision on the next steps. We. Could, follow up.

So given the strong signal that Moldovans, voters just, sent, do you, does the commission think that it would make sense to decouple Ukraine and,

Moldova since the discussions you just mentioned in the Council seem to be difficult?

Again, on the decoupling, again, this is something we we have touched upon already in the past.

This is a decision from the member states if they want to decouple Moldova and Ukraine.

From our side, we support Moldova and Ukraine no matter the decisions of the member states.

We'll continue our technical, political, and financial support to both Moldova and Ukraine.

And then if a decision on decoupling takes place, it will be for the member states.

And the questions to Guillaume, yes, still to Guillaume.

OK, so Guillaume is today stepping in for Anitta and Anouar,

so foreign affairs questions also go to, to Guillaume.

You want to still would it be from this angle, Nicolaus?

OK, so we wait a bit and we take a question here.

Valeria Paso Public Broadcaster Ukraine, could you confirm the date when the,

screening process is going to be over and what are the next steps in this regard? Thanks.

The screening process for Ukraine, I guess, yeah.

So the screening process of Ukraine has taken place really in full speed in record time.

This week we should finalize the work on the screening process, so the meeting, has taken place already today, but it will continue until tomorrow, so the screening process will end tomorrow when the meeting, finishes, It shows again the determination from,

from Ukraine but also from our side to to speed up as soon as possible the preparatory work for EU accession,

Let me recall that we also we have assessed, as I said before,

the criteria for cluster one, meaning the roadmap and the action plan on minorities in Ukraine.

So again, we would support the opening of cluster one. Good. Still questions for Guillaume. Yes, Jorge.

Yes, going back to this Costa plan that Tatiana mentioned, do you support the use of qualified majority to advance in the opening of clusters,

because we know that in the treaties it's written unanimity.

So what is the Commission's position regarding a possible reinterpretation

of the treaties to allow qualified majority in this process? Thank you.

So in this specific case, again, I mean, I would like to repeat that position I think is very important.

When a country is held back for an objective reasons despite meeting the criteria,

the credibility of the entire enlargement process, is at risk.

So it is again for, for in this specific context for really for the

member states to take a decision and our side will facilitate all the discussions.

When, if we do take back more on qualified majority.

So when it comes to EU accession, so the commission stated in its, pre-enlargement, policy reviews communication which was published last year that,

in line with the, with the European Council,

conclusion and call for Accelerated accession process.

The enlargement process itself could be looked at.

So this is something that we, we said in our communication.

So the possibility of empowering the Council to decide by qualified majority could be explored for certain interim steps in the enlargement process,

and the closing of the negotiation chapters should continue to be taken by unanimity by all the member states.

As the will of the final decision on the actual decision on accession also should be taken by unanimity,

but we opened the discussions and we said that we can look into it,

but again this is really a prerogative for the member states the final decision.

Yeah, and in this context, let me recall also President von der Leyen's speech at SOTEU, Jorge where, the President said that, that we need to move to qualified majority in some areas,

and she mentioned only explicitly foreign policy, left, it open whether there could be other examples,

but this also illustrates what, what, Guillaume has just said that this could be indeed explored. Other questions.

Wait, because I think we still have some for Guillaume. Let's see if Vitali. Vitalino.