{"id":163335,"date":"2025-11-05T00:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T00:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/163335\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T00:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T00:54:07","slug":"eu-enlargement-will-have-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/163335\/","title":{"rendered":"EU enlargement will have \u201cconsequences\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government says it wants EU enlargement to include new members like Ukraine and select Balkan countries, but acknowledges that such expansion will carry \u201cconsequences\u201d for the bloc\u2019s finances and will influence migration patterns.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The remarks were made by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. He was speaking to reporters at the launch of the Department of Finance\u2019s \u2018Future Forty\u2019 document \u2013 a long-term fiscal and economic assessment of Ireland\u2019s needs out to 2065.<\/p>\n

The document claims that adding new EU members would have an impact on the migration picture into Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there is likely to be a staged process for the introduction of freedom of movement for new EU members, enlargement can also be expected to impact on future migration flows to Ireland,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the issue of EU enlargement, Donohoe said that the Government remains supportive of the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support the enlargement of the European Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support, in particular, the enlargement of the European Union within the Balkans, and the membership of Ukraine within the European Union, though we know that that\u2019s a demanding process.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what the report simply acknowledges is that a bigger European Union will have an effect on the finances of the EU itself. And I think those that are involved in the debate around the future of the European Union recognise that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cSo the Government\u2019s view on EU enlargement is unchanged. All the report highlights is that anything that big will have consequences, and to be aware of those consequences in the debate around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donohoe\u2019s statement came on the same day of a summit in Brussels that coincided with the unveiling of Brussels\u2019 annual enlargement report. The event was attended by political leaders from Ukraine, Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, It also featured the President of the European Council.<\/p>\n

According to Euronews, which hosted the event, its purpose was to \u201cdiscuss the geopolitical and economic imperatives of enlarging the European bloc, as Ukraine continues to battle Russian aggression on the continent\u2019s eastern flank.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa and the EU\u2019s Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos were among Euronews\u2019 guests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government has long promoted the EU adding to its list of member states on a \u201cmerit\u201d basis. Notably, according to Foreign Affairs Minister and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris, Budget 2026 will see an additional investment of \u20ac1.3 million towards \u201cprogrammes focused on EU enlargement and on citizen engagement on the EU in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of countries are being considered by the EU for eventual addition to the bloc within the next decade or so subject to certain reforms, such as mandatory anti-corruption measures and so on. The States under consideration include Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Georgia and Albania are likewise on the table for potential EU membership, subject to satisfying the bloc\u2019s conditions.<\/p>\n

In July earlier this year, Thomas Byrne, Ireland\u2019s Minister of State for European Affairs, visited Albania and Montenegro to advance their EU membership aspirations.<\/p>\n

Representing the Irish government, the Fianna F\u00e1il Minister said the trip was aimed at bolstering the EU\u2019s enlargement efforts.<\/p>\n

During the trip, he emphasised Ireland\u2019s backing of the two nations\u2019 accession processes and urged their governments to press forward with necessary reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will take the opportunity to commend Albania and Montenegro for their significant efforts to implement the necessary reforms to align with EU standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will encourage the Albanian government and Montenegrin government to maintain their EU integration efforts in the period ahead, so that we can work together to deliver real progress on their EU candidacies, during Ireland\u2019s Presidency of the Council of the EU next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that the war in Ukraine had highlighted the importance of growing the EU\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has demonstrated the importance of EU enlargement, as a geostrategic investment in a peaceful, secure and prosperous Europe,\u201d Byrne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland has benefited enormously from over half a century of EU membership, and during my visit, I will convey Ireland\u2019s strong support for a merit-based enlargement of the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government says it wants EU enlargement to include new members like Ukraine and select Balkan countries, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[15325,4391,9,10,94416,4893,2219,13,14,553,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,551,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-163335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-balkans","9":"tag-ben-scallan","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-breakingnews","12":"tag-enlargment","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-featured-news","16":"tag-featurednews","17":"tag-fine-gael","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories","26":"tag-ukraine","27":"tag-world","28":"tag-world-news","29":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115494366028970552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}