Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We know the French President, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, is a key player in future developments in the European Union. He is very ambitious for the EU, as his commitment to the Conference on the Future of Europe and the French Presidency of the EU have demonstrated.

In this context I want to raise the issue of enlargement. While welcoming the decision of the European Council to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, there was disappointment in the western Balkans and Georgia that their cases for accession were not advanced. Ireland rightly supports enlargement as a general principle. Enlargement promotes peace and stability in various regions and makes sense from a strategic point of view. The Taoiseach and German Chancellor Mr. Olaf Scholz have questioned the need for a unanimous decision-making when it comes to admitting new member states. The French President has spoken about a political community in the neighbourhood of the EU, as the Taoiseach has just said, without full membership, a partial integration into the EU, if you like. Would the Taoiseach agree that, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we need to speed up enlargement and give geopolitical considerations an increased weighting in this process?

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