Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The witnesses are all very welcome. It is all very positive that the necessary moves are being made and that North Macedonia is assuaging any difficulties there may be. I also add my voice to what Deputy Howlin has said in that it has been a long road.

Not to mix analogies or metaphors but we have all been down this road before in the sense - and it is not the first time I have said this - that we were not very serious about accession for a period of time. We recall the time when Turkey was obviously discussed and was put on a backburner for obvious reasons. There was an element of fear within the European Union around rule of law issues which it had itself and there was probably an element of it having to sort its own house before we would consider everything else. It is probable that North Macedonia might feel that it did not get particularly well treated. I am aware that a number of other countries which had been engaging had stated that they had no difficulty in having to reach the Copenhagen criteria and in having to follow a particular roadmap but the difficulty was that there was no particular roadmap.

The Ukrainian crisis and the changed geopolitical circumstances since the Russian invasion have changed everything. There was obviously going to be a conversation with the discussion of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. There is also an acceptance, and I am going to ask our witnesses' view on this, that the western Balkans did not get a fair run in this situation. Is North Macedonia reasonably happy that the interaction which is happening now is better and that it is finally on a roadmap towards accession? Where does it see the major obstacles and what really needs to be done to facilitate this happening, while accepting that everybody has particular conditions which they need to meet? Dr. Osmani spoke about the rule of law issues.

I also ask because there are particular problems in the Balkans now where people will talk about Russia and its many tentacles across many countries and that there are wider games at play, and so forth. Has North Macedonia itself come under any particular issues from external forces at this point that could also militate against this journey into the European Union?