Sean Fleming
Question:67. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the way in which Ireland is supporting Ukrainian membership of the European Union; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50099/26]
View answerThursday, 2 July 2026
Questions (67)
Written answers
Ireland strongly supports EU enlargement which is a priority of 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 or ‘potential candidate’ status (Kosovo). Iceland will hold a referendum on 29 August on whether to resume EU accession negotiations.
Ukraine applied for EU membership in 2022 and opened accession negotiations in June 2024. Last year's European Commission annual Enlargement report described as remarkable Ukraine's progress for the reporting period. The Commission also confirmed that Ukraine is technically ready to open all six negotiating clusters.
Following the lifting of Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s candidacy, on 15 June an Intergovernmental Conference agreed to open Cluster 1 on Fundamentals with Ukraine and Moldova. This decision, which Ireland strongly supported, represents a positive and concrete step forward on Ukraine's accession path. Ireland will seek to facilitate the opening of all remaining negotiating clusters for both Ukraine and Moldova during our Presidency. This will depend on the agreement on all 27 EU Member States.
In order to support their efforts to align their laws with the EU acquis, Ireland is providing technical support to all candidate countries, including Ukraine, through our “Ireland for EU Enlargement” capacity-building programme, which was launched last year by my Department. I am pleased that officials from Ukraine have participated in the first two years of the programme.
Ireland will maintain full support to all candidate and potential candidate countries – including Ukraine – and will continue to encourage them to implement necessary reforms to advance in their EU accession process.