Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Visoka is very welcome. A number of things occur to me arising out of this morning's proceedings. First, hanging over the whole discussion is that it is almost impossible to see how much progress can be made on any of these fronts as long as the Ukraine war is going on because it is unfinished business. It is one in which Putin is advancing his agenda. If his agenda succeeds, people like the Serbs will take one view and if it fails or is contained, then a different view will be taken. In the next two years, everything depends on what happens in the Ukraine war.

The second point is that going back to what was said about concerns about the shift in the centre of gravity of the EU to the east and south, I was a Minister in the Irish Government in 2004 and I remember the French being very concerned about old Europe, new Europe and all the rest of it. If you think about it, whatever problems there are in Brussels or in other European capitals such as Budapest and Warsaw, they are small compared with the alternative problem, which would have been to adopt the French position to say, "Let them stay out." I do not know where we would be if those mistakes had been made. I think Ireland has been correct to be pro-enlargement. The French are going to have to realise that the centre of gravity is shifting east and eventually south east.

I want to ask Dr. Visoka two questions in regard to two EU member states, one is Romania and the other is Bulgaria. First, in regard to Romania, I presume it has a strong view about Moldova, Transnistria and the like. Is it actively pursuing a positive approach towards Moldova?

In regard to Bulgaria, as a Slavic country that was more traditionally aligned with Slavic ideas, what is its position on Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and the like? Is it with the agenda, so to speak, of bringing those countries within the European Union or is it looking over its shoulder at pan-Slavic concepts?