 Thank you very much indeed Andy and it's really great to be here. It's also great to see so so many people for one and so many friendly Faces that people I know in the audience. It's it's really Very heartening and that enlargement is still so much on on the top of people's agenda I've been asked to brief you on the European Commission's annual enlargement strategy in progress reports Which were published last October and the decisions taken on these at the December General Affairs Council and European Council I'd also like to take the opportunity to share with you some of our views on the enlargement process in general Particularly as it relates to the Western Balkans However, I'll start with Iceland Which is currently the only state with whom negotiations are actively progressing at the moment Iceland is a somewhat unique case having more in common with the countries of the pre 2004 enlargements as Iceland is a member of the European Economic Area and Schengen it already meets most of the accession criteria Progress on the various chapters of the key have been on parable unparalleled quite frankly in their expediency Thus far despite its small size. There are certainly no concerns about institutional capacity As there would be with some of the other prospective members Nevertheless, the very complexity of the EU a key makes Icelandic ambition of completing negotiations during our presidency in 2013 somewhat ambitious Although we will certainly support them in every way we can The Commission's progress report and the conclusions of the December General Affairs Council were positive in their appraisal of progress to date 11 of the 35 negotiating chapters have been opened and eight of these provisionally closed I Expect to see a further six or seven chapters opened at the intergovernmental conference, which is planned for March However, there are areas where significant differences still exist The chapters dealing with agriculture and fisheries will require great effort and ingenuity in both sides We certainly expect them to need the most amount of work in order to resolve complex issues involved in that regard We're preparing for the intense negotiations on these issues during our own presidency Fisheries specifically concerning macro remain a key concern for Ireland given Iceland's unilateral increase in its declared total allowable catch Talks held by the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission attended by Ireland have not been particularly positive thus far However, we remain hopeful that a deal regarding Iceland's chair of the overall total allowable catch can be agreed before Entry into the EU and do not see this issue as hampering accession talks Nevertheless fisheries and reform of the common fisheries policy remain sensitive issues politically Both for Iceland and for a large number of member states which mark out chapter 13 on fisheries as potentially the most contentious and difficult chapter to close Indications from the Commission are that this chapter will be pushed out as one of the last to be negotiated and as a result Will likely fall to our presidency in 2013 Having said all of this the big imponderable when it comes to Iceland is whether when the negotiations are completed and the treaty signed The Icelandic people will choose to join the EU Iceland's application was spurred on by the financial crisis which resulted in the country entering an IMF program But while Iceland was the first country to fall victim to the financial crisis It has also been the first to recover last year it saw significant growth at almost 4% Our own difficulties in the eurozone must give them pause for thought Let us hope by the time they come to make that decision. We will be in a less challenging position Croatia of course is the good news story of last year Negotiations were successfully concluded under the Hungarian presidency in June The polls oversaw the finalization of the accession treaty and this was signed off by the heads of state of government attending the European Council on the 9th of December We have now welcomed Croatia into the room as an exceeding state with observer status The referendum held in Croatia last month further confirmed its future as an EU member state While the turnout was somewhat disappointing the result was emphatic with two-thirds of voters agreeing to Croatian accession Some commentators have suggested that Croatia's electoral role was not Was in need of updating and if Croatia's residents broad Who were Excluded from the role and if the turnout could have been up to about 61 percent, which is I think interesting In addition at the general election held the months before all the political parties had in their manifestos that accession was a key objective In any event the Croatian government now has the mandate to proceed with ratifying the accession treaty And the treaty must also be ratified by the 27 member states We would hope to have Iceland's Ireland's ratification of the treaty completed before the end of this year It is also heartening for the EU member states to be reminded at this time of crisis That European Union membership remains attractive and that countries are prepared to make painful reforms in order to join it The process is not yet complete Monitoring by the European Commission of a number of outstanding commitments, which Croatia must fulfill before it exceeds will continue Before July 2013 the proposed date of accession Reforms have to continue new laws will need to be adopted and other ones implemented The European Commission will closely monitor Croatia's fulfillment of all its commitments Monitoring reports will be submitted to the council working groups on a regular basis with the last of these due During Ireland's presidency. I'm confident that Croatia will continue to show the perverse variance Hard work and determination that have got it far that thus far in the process Croatian accession is also a powerful signal that the EU holds to its promises That the process may be complex difficult and demanding, but that there is certainty about the outcome That accession is a complex difficult and demanding process for the countries of the western Balkans is without doubt With Croatia's imminent accession there are now no western Balkan countries in enlargement negotiations This is a somewhat damning fact in light of the commitment given to these countries at the EU Western Balkan Summit in Thessaloniki of 2003 The summit declaration stated that quote The EU's quote unequivocal support to the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries Proclaiming again quote the future of the Balkans is within the European Union Ireland's upcoming EU presidency will mark 10 years since that commitment was given It will be an opportune time to reflect on progress Ireland is not and has never been one of those calling for a pause after Croatia We continue to be strong advocates of the enlargement process and of the European future of the countries of Western Balkans At this point while Croatia's success is worth celebrating the prospects for its neighbors are less encouraging More and more the enlargement agenda is becoming hostage to the domestic concerns of existing EU member states Not that this is a new departure and the UK was rejected. You will recall when France scoffered in 1963 and which scoffered our own attempts at the time to join But the EU is a very different organization than it was 50 years ago And the appearance to outsiders of the intransitions of one member state defying the wishes of the other 26 While a simplistic image is is one that is prevailing among the candidate and prospective candidate countries Speak of an enlargement perspective in Serbia and they refer to Germany in Montenegro to France in Macedonia to Greece And most obviously Turkey's progress continues to be stalled by its relations with Cyprus This view can inevitably lead to an erosion of public support for EU membership in the prospective member states themselves We often hear talk of enlargement fatigue But we are equally at risk of accession fatigue if those countries in the Western Balkans cannot see an imminent prospect of EU accession Who wants to undergo the painful reforms required without an assurance of membership at the end of it Conditionality is important in the accession negotiation progress. It is also important that the process remain credible The conditions set have to be rigorous to ensure that exceeding countries are fully prepared for and able to cope with the responsibilities of membership But credibility also means that the conditions should not become so unrealistic that they prevent countries from moving forward on the path to EU membership Without credible prospects of accession to the EU our influence in the region will recede and we are faced with the danger of a rise of radical forms of nationalism around the unresolved contentious issues The progress made over the last decade could unravel at enormous potential and financial costs to the EU Ultimately when weighing up the costs of enlargement, we have to bear in mind the costs of non enlargement The Commission's opinions on Serbia Recommended that it be granted candidate status Ireland supported this opinion and hoped to see Serbia become an official candidate at the December European Council This was not to be The European Council noted the considerable progress made by Serbia towards Fulfilling the political criteria set by the Copenhagen European Council and the stabilization and association processes required And its satisfactory level of cooperation with the ICT why But doubts remained among some member states about Belgrade's bona fides with regard to Kosovo And so the Commission stated that quote with a view to granting Serbia candidate status The European Council tasks the Council to examine and confirm that Serbia has continued to show credible Commitment and achieve further progress in moving forward with the implementation in good faith of agreements reached in the dialogue between between Belgrade and Pristina and that it has reached an agreement on inclusive regional cooperation and has actively cooperated to enable EU lex and K4 to execute their mandates Ireland was ready to support the granting of candidate status based on the Commission's recommendation in October The steps that the government in Belgrade have taken to advance the process should be recognized and supported The pursuit of war criminals was justifiably a requirement for opening a negotiation Serbia complied Arresting and handing over Erathko Mladic and Gorgon Hadich to the ICT why last year I accept that it took the many years to do so But once the condition had been met to remain credible the EU should proceed with its commitments While there are legitimate concerns with regard to Serbia's Engagement in the dialogue with Kosovo by making progress on this front a factor in Serbia's achieving candidate status We are introducing new conditionality High representative Ashton and Commissioner Ful have Referred to enormous achievements on the part of Serbia after a decade of wars of Yugoslav dissolution Followed by a decade of recovery and stalemate We have now seen a series of concrete steps being taken towards the recognition of crimes committed and a U-turn on the issue of Kosovo EU facilitated direct talks started between Serbia and Kosovo on the 8th of March 2011 that in itself was an enormous leap of faith on the part of the Serb government Now it is time to assure the Serb people of their future within the EU if there is any doubt or disembling There is every possibility that they will tire of the EU's perceived Perfidiousness and in the upcoming elections seek to punish those who tied their colors so courageously to the EU massed There is no denying that the new applicants for EU membership are being held to a higher account than their predecessors Beyond the obvious increase in the scope and depth of the Aki the EU has learned to its cost the difficulties of allowing Contested bilateral issues to remain unsettled at the time of accession Croatia's accession process was held up due to its border dispute with Slovenia However an agreement to refer the matter to the arbitration tribunal allowed the issue to be moved aside and progress on accession to continue And I would note that this issue did not prevent Croatia opening negotiations Similarly, we would be in favor of proceeding to open negotiations with prospective candidate countries Once the Commission deems them ready The various bilateral disputes at play in the Balkans would have to be resolved before any of the parties exceed the EU But they should not hold up the negotiations After all the EU's leverage is strongest during the accession process As we are seeing with Macedonia leaving these countries in the anti-rune EU membership Can result in a reversal of the positive reforms previously enacted We will have plenty of opportunities to put further pressure on Serbia in the course of the accession process The process itself will require Serbia to define its borders Resolution of bilateral disputes must happen before it can exceed our influence over Serbia in these matters will increase Immeasurably once that is part of the process. We should therefore grant candidate status and get on with wielding that influence The other delayed decision from December was on whether to open accession negotiations with Montenegro It was agreed at the time that accession negotiations would be opened once Montenegro had addressed seven key priorities identified by the Commission The Commission in its progress reports stated that Montenegro had successfully addressed these key priorities Ireland agreed with the Commission's assessment However, others at the table believed there were still areas of concern that Montenegro had not fully dealt with In particular, there was concern expressed over the rule of law issues We recognize that Montenegro has a lot of work to do as regards anti-corruption tackling organized crime and reforming its judiciary However, however, we do believe that these could be tackled as part of the accession negotiation process a lengthy process taking Quite a number of years others wish to see a start made on these issues first The agreement that has been reached is to allow work to continue on these rule of law issues Including as the conclusion state of starting the process of analytical examination of the key communitair with Montenegro on the above mentioned chapters Crucially work will also now begin on formulating and agreeing a negotiation framework between the 27 member states which will shape the negotiations with Montenegro This process does not usually begin until after negotiations have been officially opened It is not the ideal outcome and I can understand the disappointment of the Montenegro's at other perceived moving of the gold posts by the EU Ireland will be pushing hard for agreement on the opening of negotiations with Montenegro in June Once this has been agreed It should be possible to rapidly launch these negotiations given the work that will already have been done Macedonia was granted a candidate status in 2005 But with a recommendation that negotiations not be opened until certain issues were addressed In its October report the commission repeated for the third time its recommendation that accession Negotiations be opened with Macedonia However, it is also noted that the lack of progress on the four big issues judicial reform public administration reform Freedom of the media and the fight against corruption Negative developments on freedom of expression received particular attention The commission also repeated its proposal to move to the second stage of the association as provided for by the stability and association agreement Stage one dealt with issues around regional cooperation, free movement of workers, justice and home affairs issues Stage two would broaden cooperation and approximation of Macedonian law to other areas of the ECI including free movement of goods and services and financial cooperation While the proposal was supported by the vast majority of member states the decision required unanimity and Greece objected As long as the issue of the constitutional name of the state remains unresolved between Greece and Macedonia It will be the major roadblock to the opening of the EU accession negotiations and their eventual progression I'm not in a position to judge on which side most blame lies We will continue to support the efforts of the UN facilitated negotiations Ultimately, frustrating as the lack of progress is, it is for the two parties involved to resolve this issue through bilateral talks with the assistance of the UN special envoy Turning to the other countries of the western Balkans the commission presented its avi on Albania's application for membership in 2010 At the time it did not recommend candidate status and identified 12 key priorities that would need to be addressed However for most of 2011 the domestic political scene became dominated by the political stalemate between the ruling majority and the opposition In this climate it was not possible to move forward on the reforms required by the EU The breakthrough achieved in November which saw agreement on the creation of a parliamentary committee on electoral reform And the establishment of a parliamentary working group on reform of its rules and procedures are decisive steps towards the normalization of political relations in the country It is to be hoped that with an ongoing political dialogue and properly functioning democratic institutions Albania can once again begin to address the reforms required for further EU integration Bosnia Herzegovina has not applied for EU membership yet it is by its recent histories one of the countries in which the EU is the most heavily involved The commission's report was published in October before the agreement reached by the six party leaders in Sarajevo on the 28th of December The formation of a state level government 14 months after elections took place should at last allow Bosnia Herzegovina to move forward with the adoption and implementation of reforms required by the EU Already the six leaders have agreed on the way ahead regarding the population census law and the state aid law, two of the issues highlighted by the commission in its report Implementation of the agreement is now required There is much to be done and there is no denying that the political atmosphere remains difficult Bosnia Herzegovina will need a post-datum constitution replacing a constitution designed to end the war with one for a functioning democracy But to achieve that requires political will and courage that is not present at the moment The last six years have seen a return to the extreme nationals discourse and policies which dominated during the war years This in turn has led to stalemate in the reform process I won't rehearse again the reasons for the ongoing difficulties in transidents on the part of the different ethnic groups and their leaders added to the state of desire by the Bosnian Serb leaders for accession And the Bosnian create efforts to create a third create entity are proof of the persistent negative influence of overtly nationalist positions in fragile multi-ethnic state Safeguarding the territorial integrity of Bosnia Herzegovina is the cornerstone of the EU's policy towards the country The EU has not hesitated to reject statements questioning the legitimacy of the country's post-datum institutions The formation of a state level government is a positive step but what is really required to move Bosnia further on the path to EU integration is a common understanding of the overall direction and future of the country and its institutional framework Bosnia has to move beyond the transitional arrangements where its governance and security is still underpinned by international presence to a country with domestic institutions in full ownership of the political and legislative process This is a fundamental requirement for a future EU member but to achieve this Bosnia needs a stable political environment Tassid or revert support of secessionist positions or nationalistic policies by the governments of Bosnia Herzegovina's neighbors undermines attempts to build a multi-ethnic functioning democracy As an exceeding state Croatia is expected to adhere to the EU's position on the territorial integrity of the country Similarly Serbia will be and indeed is required to do the same It would be much harder for the Serbian leadership to show the kind of support shown to Milorad Dojic in the run up to the last election if Serbia is an official EU candidate As they would have much more to fear and lose from the backlash The question of the future of the office of the high representative remains one to be addressed by the international community The high representative up until this year also acted as EU special representative In July the council appointed Peter Sorensen as both EU special representative and head of the EU delegation in Bosnia Herzegovina I note that he will address this institute on the 27th of March It has been envisaged that the high representative post would be abolished by now with a reinforced EU special representative role remaining However the poor political atmosphere and the lack of progress on the reform agenda prompted the peace implementation council to delay repeatedly the planned closure The current high representative is Valentin Inkzo an Austrian diplomat who took office in March 2009 The discourse has now changed from talk of abolishing the office to downsizing it and possibly relocating it outside Bosnia Herzegovina As you are now no doubt aware the five objectives and two conditions agreed by the peace implementation council in 2008 For the closure of the office have not been fully met Closure of the office is considered to be a precondition for EU membership or even for candidate status So to sum up we can but hope that 2012 proved to be a more positive year for Bosnia Herzegovina and its path to EU integration then was 2011 Ultimately the EU perspective of Bosnia Herzegovina is the most powerful tool at the disposal of the international community to help build and maintain stability in the country As evidenced by the new double-hattered role of the EU special representative and head of the EU delegation The EU is working to enhance its presence in Bosnia Herzegovina This should help to make the prospect of EU accession more real to the people of the country And strengthen the leverage of EU accession as a means to encourage the necessary reform In December 2010 the EU lifted visa requirements for Bosnia and Albania visitors to the Schengen area In the lead up to visa liberalization Bosnia Herzegovina's political leaders and administration worked together effectively to implement wide ranging reforms This development was a major boost for the country and proves that the Bosnian authorities are capable of working together when there is tangible EU related goal at stake I'm going to take a drink of water if you don't mind Excuse me I've already mentioned Kosovo with reference to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue With regard to the enlargement policy not only has Kosovo not applied for EU membership it does not have any contractual relations with the EU And yet the EU is involved in the very architecture of the Kosovo state With EU-Lex rule of law mission, a special representative and the Kosovo International Civilian Office Kosovo is an unfinished state It declared independence in 2008 but this independence has not yet been recognized by the UN Security Council By the majority of UN member states and by five members of the European Union Or by two of its immediate neighbors Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina It does not control part of its territory and therefore it is also unfinished in terms of its sovereignty All of this has serious implications for the country's ability to conduct bilateral trade relations Participate fully in the international community or even field a national team at international sporting events Against its background it is not surprising that the economic situation is serious That organized crime and corruption hold a pernicious grip or that rule of law remains weak These issues were highlighted by the Commission in its October report Given the state of affairs in Kosovo and its still fledgling statehood It can be odd to read the Commission's annual progress report holding up Kosovo's institutions discrutely on issues such as accession to education for minorities The rights of socially vulnerable groups and persons with disabilities and consumer protection If anything it further underlies the very long way Kosovo still has to travel on the road to EU integration But as evidenced by Kosovo's Deputy Foreign Minister's address to this institute last week There is certainly the political commitment and belief in the country's ability to make rapid progress The EU has tried to overcome the difficulty of establishing relations with Kosovo by adopting a status neutral approach But the lack of a common EU position on Kosovo does hinder our ability to act and influence in the country Kosovo does participate in the EU stability and association process For the western Balkans though it has not negotiated a stabilization and association agreement with the EU Due to the issues related to its status Kosovo is also the only country in the region not to have benefited from a visa free regime For short visits by its citizens to the Schengen zone However a dialogue on visa free travel was launched last month with the visitor of Commissioner Maelstrom to Pristina The EU Commission is also working on a proposal that will allow Kosovo's participation in EU programs Without prejudice to the position of the five non-recognizing EU member states A new EU special representative was appointed last week and takes up office today Mr Samuel Jobar, I think I'm not sure how to pronounce the name Is a former diplomat and Foreign Minister of Slovenia He has been tasked with the strengthening the EU presence in Kosovo and ensuring its coherence and effectiveness Ireland is one of the first countries to recognize the independent Republic of Kosovo We believe that its future is as a member of the European Union And will continue to support efforts on Kosovo's path to European integration And I come to my final country now and that's Turkey Just to give you a pause, there is an end to this Turkey's aspirations for EU membership are of long-standing and have been recognized by the EU as far back as 1963 When the Association Agreement was signed Things moved to a new phase with the decision in 2004 to open accession negotiations Turkey opened negotiations in 2005 At the same time as Croatia Those negotiations have been complicated and slow Hampered by the emergence of overt opposition to Turkish membership by current governments of France and Germany Which have argued instead for a privileged partnership or special relationship By a slow pace in the necessary reforms in Turkey itself More on democracy and the rule of law aspects For example, civilian oversight of the military And human rights and on the economy where progress has been maintained And by the unresolved Cypriot issue The effect has been to import that issue into the accession negotiations And the related issues of progress or lack of it in the inter-communal talks in Cyprus And more widely in Turkey's relations with member state Cyprus Since 2005, 13 negotiation chapters have been opened One of which has been provisionally closed Of the remaining 22 chapters, eight have been suspended by the European Council in December 2006 Due to Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to Greece To Greek Cypriot traffic And further four have been blocked by France and five by Cyprus This leaves five chapters where progress could be made And progress is slow It's almost two years since the last chapter was opened At the same time there is strong support within the EU for making progress in the accession negotiations Success of Turkish governments of varying composition Have maintained the EU candidacy a central foreign policy plank And intertwined it with their steps to advance democratization and improve human rights Ireland is supportive of the Turkish candidacy We have subscribed to successive European Council conclusions including those of last December Which have highlighted the progress made by Turkey Drawn attention to the need to accelerate the pace of reforms And called for Turkish compliance with obligations under the anchor of protocol and on the Cyprus issue Our support is influenced by a number of factors Including the exercise through the accession perspective of a positive influence on reforms The potential gains that a larger internal market can provide for a small open economy The potential for increased trade And the positive impact for Ireland of a stronger EU internationally With Turkey bringing closer ties to the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia Nevertheless, accession remains a distant prospect currently And the negotiations will undoubtedly have to traverse more ups and downs And have to tackle derogations or very long transitional periods in areas such as free movement But maintaining a commitment to the prospect is an important element in our bilateral relations With a significant economic and political player And again, a word of warning here In terms of public support for EU accession within Turkey Similar conditions apply to those in both Iceland and Western Balkans On the one hand, when Turkey was granted candidate status and pressed hard to open negotiations in 2004 It was economically weak and the EU was an attractive proposition Turkey was coming out of the banking crisis in 2001 Which had cost it some 15% of GDP However, the Turkish public perception now sees the EU as weak and in crisis Whereas Turkey has been forced to keep its economic growth in check It is a government policy to cut back growth to 4-5% from the 8% growth it has been experiencing in the last few years As in Iceland, there is less need for EU membership That said, public support remains strong with a majority consistently in favour of EU accession However, when asked about whether they believed Turkey would actually join Around 70% of respondents' doubt membership will ever happen And here we see a situation similar to the Western Balkans The longer the process takes and the longer the current stalemate continues The more likely it is that enlargement fatigue will start to set in And the EU is at risk of allowing a strategic partner and player in the wider region to slip beyond our reach In an attempt to inject some life into the process The Commission's enlargement strategy of October proposed a renewed agenda to support political reforms Specifically the planned new constitution The foreign policy dialogue Bringing laws into line with the IKEA A dialogue on visas and migration And enhancing the customs union While the Commission's proposal for a renewed positive agenda with Turkey sounds good in theory It remains to be seen what this will mean in practice And whether Turkey's expectations of the renewed agenda match those of the Commission and its member states The Turkish response to the upcoming Cypriot presidency of the European Council is a further complicating factor Turkish political leaders have made it clear that they do not intend to cooperate with the Council during Cyprus's presidency They were chastised with this stance at the European Council conclusions of last December Where the Council expressed serious concern about Turkish threats And called for full respect for the role of the presidency of the Council Taking up the presidency role directly after Cyprus Ireland may find a range of challenges to advancing the enlargement agenda Wrapping up with the Commission's enlargement strategy for 2012 I'll just make mention of one of the key policy proposals Namely a new approach on the early opening and late closing of chapters Relating to the judiciary, fundamental rights Chapter 23 and Justice, Freedom and Security Chapter 24 The Commission proposed that this will allow the maximum time possible to establish the necessary legislation and credible track records On the basis of action plans in the areas of fight against crime and corruption and judicial reform Hopefully this will answer many of the questions raised on implementation in these areas in recent accession process The first tryout for this new policy will be the agreement on the negotiating framework for Montenegro When discussing and assessing the EU's enlargement policy, it is important to keep the bigger picture in view The European Union is the most successful peace process the world has ever seen And the EU's enlargement policy is one of its most successful policies Concretely contributing to the overarching aims and ambitions of the Union Robert Truman's vision was of a super national community that would share strategic resources in order to make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible And to build a lasting peace in Europe Enlargement is the most ambitious project the EU has undertaken The 2004 enlargement was in effect the reunification of the European continent But the dream of the EU's founding fathers to make Europe whole and free has not been fully achieved yet War did devastate Europe again The wars of Yugoslav dissolution in the 1990s demonstrated what Europeans can do to each other When the forces forges integration and extreme nationalism are allowed to overtake the wishes for cooperation and unity The 2004 enlargement and previous enlargements proved the EU's transformative power in terms of integrating established states We are now confronted with the challenge of integrating contested states These are states that are only beginning to exercise their independent sovereignty Or to put a definition on that their supreme authority within a defined territory Far from being a replacement for states European integration requires the pooling of important aspects of their sovereignty into a supernatural Super national institution in which their freedom of action is constrained But this in turn requires that they had that freedom of action to begin with Which in the case of some of the Balkan countries, Kosovo and Bosnia being the obvious examples, they do not Enlargement to the western Balkans puts us in an odd paradox of simultaneously helping to build nation states While preparing those states for membership of a super national entity It is a challenge the EU and its enlargement policy is still adapting to The EU's enlargement policy remains the EU's most effective tool in supporting reform and transformation in the region Croatia's success shows the way for the other countries of the western Balkans They can and will see the tangible political, social and economic benefits that EU membership offers From the EU's point of view, the adoption by the western Balkan countries of the EU's values Ensures stability and irreversible political reform There are obvious economic benefits in the form of a larger common market Ultimately the policy contributes to both our security and our prosperity I can assure you Ireland will remain an ardent supporter of EU enlargement policy Thank you