Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 July 2026
26. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if she will report on the progress made for EU candidate countries, Ukraine, Moldova and Montenegro, with regard to EU accession; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50237/26]
View answerIreland strongly supports EU enlargement, which is a priority for our EU Presidency. Over the next six months, Ireland will aim to advance the candidacies of all candidate and potential candidate countries, provided that necessary reforms are implemented.
Ten countries currently hold either EU ‘candidate’ status (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine) or ‘potential candidate’ status (Kosovo).
Montenegro is the most advanced EU candidate country, with 16 out of 33 technical negotiating chapters currently provisionally closed. Ireland supports Montenegro's goal of closing all remaining negotiating chapters by the end of 2026, but this will primarily depend on the implementation by Montenegro of necessary and challenging reforms in order to close individual chapters. During our Presidency, Ireland will also chair the Ad Hoc Working Party on Drafting Montenegro's Accession Treaty, and we will seek to advance its work as much as possible.
Moldova applied for EU membership in 2022 and opened accession negotiations in 2024. Last year’s Enlargement report, issued by the European Commission, highlighted that Moldova had made the most one-year progress of all the candidates over the reporting period. As confirmed by the European Commission, Moldova is technically ready to open all negotiating clusters.
Ukraine applied for EU membership in 2022 and opened accession negotiations in June 2024. Last year’s Enlargement report highlighted that Ukraine made, in the words of the European Commission, remarkable progress across all negotiating chapters over the reporting period. The European Commission also confirmed that Ukraine is technically ready to open all six negotiating clusters.
An Intergovernmental Conference to open Cluster 1 on Fundamentals with both Ukraine and Moldova took place on 15 June. Ireland will seek to facilitate the opening of all remaining negotiating clusters for Ukraine and Moldova during our Presidency.
Ireland will maintain full support to all candidate and potential candidate countries, and will continue to encourage them to implement necessary reforms to advance in their EU accession process.
