There are currently five countries which have Candidate Status, including four in the Western Balkans – Montenegro, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and Albania. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidate countries.
Ireland has long been a supporter of Enlargement. The European Commission continues to work actively to support prospective member states in implementing reforms in order to make progress on their respective EU paths. Every year, the Commission publishes progress reports on each of the candidate and potential candidate countries. This year's “Enlargement Package”, which is expected on 9 November, will provide an opportunity to assess the state of play in each of the candidate countries. The reports are then debated intensively at working group level, before being discussed by Ministers at the General Affairs Council, and agreed by the European Council in December.