§ 19. Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress is being made towards European Union enlargement; and if he will make a statement. [54303]
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§ Mr. Robin CookBritain negotiated the launch of the enlargement process during our Presidency and progress in the accession talks has been good. We expect that next month we can move from the screening process to substantive negotiations with six of the candidate countries.
Last week I visited two other candidate countries—Bulgaria and Romania—whose governments both expressed their warm appreciation of Britain's support for the enlargement of the European Union.