Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts about further expansion of the membership of the EU.

Mr David Lidington

The UK supports enlargement of the EU as a driver for peace, prosperity and reform, once countries have met in full the conditions and standards for membership. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has made clear that there needs to be reform of the transitional controls on free movement of workers before any further countries join the EU. I discuss enlargement policy and developments in aspirant countries in the course of contacts with EU counterparts and in the context of annual autumn Council discussions on enlargement. Based on latest assessments and enlargement experiences to date, we don’t expect further enlargement before the early 2020s.