Sean Fleming
Question:39. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the way in which Ireland is supporting Moldovan membership of the European Union; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50100/26]
View answerThursday, 2 July 2026
Questions (39)
Written answers
Ireland strongly supports EU enlargement which is a priority for our EU Presidency. In 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). Iceland will hold a referendum on 29 August to determine whether it resumes EU accession negotiations.
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. I am very conscious of the commitment of the Moldovan authorities to move along the accession path as quickly as possible.
Following the lifting of Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s candidacy, which was also preventing progress on Moldova’s candidacy, an Intergovernmental Conference to open Cluster 1 on Fundamentals with Moldova (and Ukraine) took place on 15 June. Ireland will seek to facilitate the opening of all remaining negotiating clusters for both Moldova and Ukraine during our Presidency.
Ireland is also providing technical support to candidate and potential candidate countries to strengthen their administrative and institutional capacity. Last year, my Department, through the EU Enlargement and Fundamental Values Fund, launched the “Ireland for EU Enlargement” capacity-building programme which supports candidate countries in their EU accession process. Officials from Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova participated in the 2025 programme. This year, the programme has been expanded to invite officials from all six Western Balkan countries, as well as continued representation from Moldova and Ukraine.
Ireland will maintain full support to all candidate and potential candidate countries – including Moldova – and will continue to encourage them to implement necessary reforms to advance in their EU accession process.
Question No. 40 answered with Question No. 16.