00:02EU officials downplayed the fallout from Iceland's referendum defeat as Brussels tried to keep the
00:09momentum for enlargement alive at a high-level meeting in Dublin. European affairs ministers
00:15from EU member states and candidate countries met in Dublin to discuss the enlargement process
00:20in the wake of Iceland's vote. On Saturday, Icelandic voters rejected reopening accession
00:26talks with Brussels frozen since 2013 by 52.8%. I regret the decision of the Icelanders not to come
00:35back to the accession process. Why? Mostly because they are part of the common market. What they say,
00:45they are part of Schengen. But our European Union is much, much more than just those two things.
00:52The EU commissioner said the result doesn't mean the EU has become less attractive. This Irish
00:59minister pointed to the progress made by Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine.
01:04The Icelandic people voted the way they did. What can we do? They made the decision. I think there
01:10was a very specific issue there in Iceland, which was obviously the issue of the marine industry,
01:14fishing. That has no impact on what we're doing today. The candidate countries are working hard
01:19to continue the accession process. Montenegro is on track to become the bloc's 28th member by 2028,
01:27and Albania is following closely behind.
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