Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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562. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which European Union enlargement continues to progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15692/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is a long-standing supporter of the Enlargement process, which is widely seen as one of the most successful foreign policy initiatives of the European Union. Although no country is expected to join the European Union in the immediate future, we believe that it is important to actively engage with our European partners and with candidate countries to advance the accession process. Enlargement is a conditional process: prospective member states must implement reforms in order to make progress on their respective EU paths and the European Commission continues to work actively to support them in this task. The European Council has granted Candidate Status to six countries - Turkey, Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania. In addition, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidate countries.

Turkey was granted Candidate status by the European Council in December 1999 and the European Council agreed to begin accession negotiations in December 2004. Fourteen out of thirty-five Chapters have been opened for negotiation, of which one has been provisionally closed.

Accession negotiations with Iceland remain suspended following a decision of the Icelandic Government in early 2013.

The European Union began accession negotiations with Montenegro in June 2012 and eighteen negotiating Chapters are now open, of which two have been provisionally closed.

Serbia began accession negotiations in January 2014 and the screening process was concluded on 24 March 2015. Next steps include action plans to be prepared by the Serbian Government before any chapters are formally opened. The normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo will be important in this context.

The European Union granted Macedonia Candidate Status in 2005 but the opening of accession negotiations was delayed, pending a resolution of the name dispute with Greece.

Albania was granted Candidate Status in June 2014. Ireland supported this step as a signal of positive encouragement to the Albanian Government, and the region as a whole, to maintain the reform momentum. Before negotiations can be opened, Albania will need to demonstrate additional progress on a number of key priorities: continuing public administration reform, intensifying anti-corruption efforts and reinforcing freedom of expression.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet formally applied for EU membership and thus remains a potential candidate country. In December 2014, Member States agreed on a ‘renewed approach’ towards Bosnia, which undertook to activate the country’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) when Bosnia’s political leaders agreed on a Written Commitment outlining socio-economic, judicial and institutional reforms. In February 2015, Bosnia’s Parliament endorsed this Written Commitment, which is to be implemented by Bosnia’s new government.

Kosovo has continued negotiations with the European Commission on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step on the EU accession path. The SAA was initialled in July 2014 and future steps will be discussed in the coming months.

Ireland looks forward to working with each country as they make progress on their respective paths to EU membership.