Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

As the Deputy will be aware, the OSCE has field offices in respective countries of the Balkans. The good news is that this year the field office in Croatia has been wound down because Croatia is acceding to membership of the European Union, which is a sign of progress. Also, the applications for EU membership made by states in the Balkans present an issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, and I see an opportunity in that respect in that our role in chairing the OSCE and the role we will play in the discussions on accession will be complementary. We are, therefore, taking a very active interest in this issue, coming at it from two ends, our chairmanship of the OSCE and our role within the European Union in the discussions on the accession of states in the Balkans.

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