Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to pursue the rule of law issue a little more. It was a focus for all of us in advance of the invasion and it had an impact on our view of enlargement because there was a very strong belief that the core values of the Union, which obviously meant a free and unimpeded judiciary, press and academia, were somewhat challenged by one or two member states. We did not want to increase that divergence from core EU principles. The invasion of Ukraine has obviously had an impact in that there is a very strong wish now for the European family to be embraced but there will be outworkings in terms of enlargement to ensure those core values endure and are not undermined. I would be interested in hearing a perspective from the Czech Presidency on how those values will be maintained and its attitude to legal proceedings against member states which breach those values.