Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There are currently eight candidate countries for EU membership: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine. Georgia and Kosovo are considered ‘potential candidate’ countries, having submitted formal applications, but not yet been granted candidate status.

Ireland is, and always has been, a strong supporter of EU Enlargement, provided that candidates meet the necessary criteria for EU membership.

Montenegrohas opened all 33 chapters which apply to them, and provisionally closed three. While Montenegro has made limited progress on EU reforms in recent years, we hope to see renewed commitment following Presidential and parliamentary elections in April and June respectively. President Milatovic, who the Taoiseach met en marge of the European Political Community on 1 June, cites EU membership as his first priority, and his Europe Now!movement has emerged as the country’s largest party.

Serbiahas opened 22 out of 35 chapters, and provisionally closed two. The Government has progressed reform in some important areas, notably in respect of the judiciary. However, as Minister of State for European Affairs, Peter Burke, affirmed on his recent visit to Belgrade, new chapters are unlikely to be opened while Serbia fails to align with EU sanctions on Russia. A lack of progress in the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue remains as an additional barrier to Serbia’s EU accession.

Accession negotiations were opened with Albaniaand North Macedonia in July 2022. The screening of the acquis (a process to assess alignment with EU legislation) for both countries will continue until the end of 2023.

In order to lift a long-standing Bulgarian veto of their EU candidacy, North Macedonia agreed last year to amend its constitution to recognise the Bulgarian minority, along with several other ethnic groups. This followed agreement with Greece in 2018 to constitutionally change the name of the state. If the Government can secure the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to amend the constitution, Ireland will support opening of North Macedonia’s first chapters, a commitment I made to Foreign Minister Osmani in May and which Minister Burke underlined on his visit to North Macedonia last month.

Bosnia and Herzegovinawas granted candidate status in December 2022. While it was hoped that this would spur early reform, progress to date has been relatively limited. The formation of a new Government of the Federation on 28 April is, as Foreign Minister Konakovic and I discussed in May, a very welcome development. However, we remain seriously concerned over secessionist rhetoric and steps to restrict civil society taken by political leadership in Republika Srpska, which are fundamentally at odds with EU values.

Kosovoformally applied for EU membership in December 2022. As is the case with Serbia, Kosovo’s European perspective will be significantly determined, by progress in the normalisation of relations through the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue. In that context, we have joined EU partners in expressing serious concern at the heightening of tensions in northern Kosovo over recent months.

Türkiyehas opened 15 negotiating chapters, provisionally closing one. Negotiations have been essentially frozen since 2016, however, and are considered unlikely to restart absent renewed commitments on rule of law and fundamental human rights. At the same time, Türkiye continues to be an important partner for the EU. Ireland will continue to support work towards closer EU-Türkiye relations, while stressing the importance of rule of law and fundamental human rights, as well as the importance of Türkiye’s relationship with Greece and Cyprus.

Ireland warmly welcomed the granting of candidate status to Ukraineand Moldovaand potential candidate status to Georgia in June 2022. We recognise that all three countries have been actively engaged to implement the key recommendations set out by the EU Commission.

Last month, the European Commission provided the informal General Affairs Council with a brief oral update on how each of the three applicants have progressed with their reform agendas. All three have made notable progress, and the Commission reported that further work is needed to advance priority reforms. A detailed report on the ‘eastern trio’ and remaining candidate countries will be published as part of the regular Enlargement Package in the autumn. A firm supporter of the EU perspectives of all three countries, Ireland welcomes last month’s oral updates. We await the Commission’s detailed recommendations in the autumn and remain committed to supporting all candidate and potential candidate countries as they advance on the path to EU membership.