Ireland will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1, and the small island nation is bringing a long memory with it. The year was 2004. That was the last time Dublin held the chair.
It was also the year the EU pulled off its biggest single expansion — the so-called big bang enlargement that brought in eight Central and Eastern European countries plus Cyprus and Malta. Irish diplomats remember that moment well.
Public surveys show the Irish remain broadly supportive of letting new members into the club. That matters now because the presidency sets the agenda for the bloc’s six-month cycle, and Dublin has made enlargement a top priority. The mechanics are straightforward.
As president, Ireland will guide discussions, broker compromises, and steer the pace of accession talks. It is a role the country has played before, and one its diplomats say they handle without the baggage other member states carry.
Ireland is seen as an honest broker. No Irish government has ever blocked an enlargement step. The country has no bilateral disputes with any candidate nation.
That puts Dublin in a unique position. Several EU member states have their own axes to grind — unresolved border issues, historical grievances, domestic political pressure to hold up neighbors. Ireland has none of that.
Its own history of joining the bloc in 1973, then helping to open the door to others, gives it credibility. The candidate most likely to move forward under Irish stewardship is Montenegro.
The small Western Balkan country has already closed 16 of the 33 chapters required in its accession talks. Diplomats expect its progress to be closely watched in the coming months. Some believe Montenegro could wrap up negotiations while Ireland holds the gavel, putting it on track to join the EU by 2028.
Other candidates are in the mix too. Ukraine, Moldova, and Albania are all seeking entry.
Their progress will depend on reforms at home and political will in Brussels. Ireland’s job is to keep the process moving, to push when momentum stalls, to find consensus among 27 member states with very different views on how fast the club should grow. The timing is no accident.
Enlargement has returned to the spotlight after years of stagnation. The war in Ukraine reshaped the debate. Suddenly, expansion was not just a bureaucratic exercise — it was a geopolitical necessity.
The EU needed to show it could still attract and integrate new members. Ireland’s presidency arrives at exactly that moment.
A sharp rise in diplomatic activity is expected in the weeks ahead. Meetings will multiply. Briefings will intensify.
Irish officials will shuttle between capitals, testing positions, building coalitions. The presidency is not a ceremonial post.
It is a working job, and Dublin intends to work it hard. Whether that work leads to actual membership for any candidate before 2028 is uncertain. The process is long, the requirements demanding, the politics unpredictable.
But the direction is set. Ireland is taking the wheel. The question now is how far it can drive.
