Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Memisevic and all our guests. The messages we have heard strike a chord with us because they are ones we heard on our visit to the region in September. We visited Slovenia and Croatia before arriving in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We had the opportunity to talk to politicians in these two countries about their views on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was useful to speak to them beforehand because we were able to form a picture of the political situation in the region. When we were in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we met many organisations and groups. We met politicians from all sides and quizzed them in detail about their intentions with regard to European integration. We had a number of useful meetings with other non-governmental organisations. We met Ms Mary Anne Hennessy who kindly made time to meet us. We also met the European Union High Representative, Valentin Inzco, and Fletcher Burton, the OSCE ambassador. We were extremely impressed by all of them. We have been in touch with Mr. Inzco subsequently. We visited EUFOR forces in Camp Butmir where members of the Defence Forces are stationed and talked to them about the situation in the region. The OSCE showed us the town of Mostar. We went to Stari Most which featured during the terrible war. It was a very useful trip which gave us a much greater understanding of the issues facing the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the difficulties associated with their potential membership of the European Union.

The Irish Presidency will commence on 1 January 2013. The role of the committee will be to head up COSAC, the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs, which comprises the 27 members states, as well as the accession and candidate countries. A two-day plenary session will be held in June. It will be attended by the 27 member states, Croatia, Iceland and some Balkan states. I do not think Bosnia-Herzegovina will be represented at the meeting. The committee is putting together proposals for the agenda for the meeting. One session will be devoted to the issue of enlargement of the European Union and Mr. Inzco has agreed to speak at it. He will speak from his perspective in Sarajevo to the 300 parliamentarians in attendance. We have also invited Stefan Fule, the European Commissioner for enlargement. The meeting will be held in public session and streamed live. Assuming he agrees to attend, he will be subject to answering questions from the floor. Our intention is to ensure the issue of enlargement is placed at the heart of the Irish Presidency. Ireland has benefited tremendously from membership of the European Union and we want to see these benefits extended to other countries as it is essential for peace and stability in the Balkan region. We hope the attendance of persons of the calibre of Mr. Inzco and Mr. Fule at the meeting will help to deepen the understanding of the issues surrounding the potential accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina. I now invite members to ask questions.