The 27 EU member states agreed on Monday to start the process by which Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia will be able to become members of the bloc in the future, following the formal request sent to Brussels by these three countries last week, reports EFE, according to Agerpres.

According to a Twitter announcement from the French presidency of the EU Council, the 27 member states asked the European Commission on Monday to take the first step in this direction, by drawing up a report based on which member states will decide whether to grant candidate status to Ukraine, the Republic Moldova and Georgia.

Ukraine last week formally applied for EU membership, followed by Moldova and Georgia, which is a laborious and lengthy process.

The European Parliament has warned that its resolution in support of Ukraine’s EU accession, voted on Tuesday, does not mean that the accession process has begun or that the country would benefit from any special accession procedure, as some messages from Kyiv said.

After the Republic of Moldova decided to apply for membership of the European Union, the separatists in Transnistria again demanded the recognition of the independence of this region.