Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I accept the difficulty relating to 130 votes and having to keep 27 member states on board at all times. Dr. Osmani stated that there have been successful moves in the past year. From that, I take it that North Macedonia is finding the EU to be more receptive than it was previously. He believes North Macedonia has gone above and beyond from the point of view of settling Bulgaria. Nothing is guaranteed but Dr. Osmani believes North Macedonia is on as good a footing as possible. His contention is that in the context of geography, economy and society, but particularly that of current geopolitical considerations, it is absolutely necessary that the EU meet all members of the Western Balkans, accepting that they have steps to make, some of them have not taken as many positive steps as North Macedonia has taken and there are outstanding issues. I presume the argument is that strengthening the hand of those that want to see progress towards the European Union weakens the hand of malign actors. All present can accept that. If there is anything the State or the committee can do to in any minor way facilitate North Macedonia, such as in the case of major stumbling blocks that may arise, Dr. Osmani should put that on the table.

Obviously there has been some sort of common regional economic framework or-----