Irish Times: Ireland to focus on Montenegro's membership during EU presidency

During its presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year, Ireland will place a special focus on drafting an accession treaty that would approve Montenegro's membership in the EU, writes The Irish Times, referring to the final draft of the Irish Government's political platform.

According to the media outlet, the Irish government hopes to make "rapid progress" in launching negotiations on Ukraine's stalled candidacy for EU membership.

The nearly finalized draft of the government's political platform states that Irish ministers and diplomats will help prepare the ground for the EU to admit new members for the first time in more than a decade.

A draft document setting out priorities for Ireland's international role, dated May 9 and seen by The Irish Times, states that Ireland will be "ambitious" when it comes to future enlargement of the 27-nation bloc.

The coalition will place special focus on drafting an accession treaty that would approve Montenegro's membership in the EU, the final step in a process that began in 2008 and could pave the way for the former Yugoslav republic to join the Union in 2028.

An internal government document states that Ireland will "prioritize the completion of accession negotiations with Montenegro" and advancing negotiations with Ukraine and other candidate countries.

"Our goal is to make rapid progress in negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, as well as Albania," the document states.

Ireland will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU, the body that represents national governments in the Brussels system, from July 1 until the end of the year. This influential role involves brokering compromises and rotates between countries every six months.

The government's final European policy program will be published in early June.

"The Irish presidency is ambitious when it comes to the EU's enlargement agenda, a key instrument for ensuring European security. Our aim is to prepare the ground for the first accession of new member states from 2013," the draft document states.

Croatia was the last country to join the EU, in 2013. Montenegro and Albania are considered favorites to complete all the necessary reforms set as a prerequisite for membership.

Countries hoping to join the European bloc have criticized an earlier lack of urgency in Brussels, pointing to years during which negotiations stagnated.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has given new impetus to the idea of ​​readmitting new states to the EU, in order to prevent the countries of the Balkans and the Eastern Neighborhood from being drawn into Moscow's orbit.

For almost two years, former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked the EU from opening several "chapters" of accession negotiations with Ukraine, according to the Irish Times.

The new pro-European government of Peter Magyar has given positive signals in recent private talks, hinting that Budapest may drop its objections.

The European Commission, the EU's powerful executive body, is expected to propose the opening of the first negotiating "chapters" next month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants Brussels to speed up the process at Kiev's request, meaning that a process that usually takes a decade can be compressed into a year or two. Ukraine applied for membership in 2022, days after the Russian invasion.

There is widespread support for Ukraine's candidacy, but many governments, including major powers such as France, the Netherlands and Poland, have serious reservations about rushing the country into the bloc.

The last major enlargement took place during the previous Irish presidency of the EU, in 2004. At a high-profile ceremony in Dublin, 10 new states, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, were admitted to the Union.

The government wants to better communicate the "benefits" of EU enlargement, "both to the citizens of candidate countries and within the Union," according to its draft political program.

Montenegro, a country with a population of around 600.000, is seen as a test of whether the EU is serious about reopening its doors to new members.

The decision on enlargement requires the unanimous approval of all member states.

The need to hold a referendum in France as part of the ratification process is considered one of the major obstacles, especially ahead of the French presidential elections in 2027.