(Adnkronos) – Candidate countries Serbia, Albania and Montenegro may be ready to join the European Union in 2029, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday on the sidelines of a meeting in Rome on the Western Balkans.
“For Serbia, Montenegro and Albania, 2029 could be the right time to enter the EU,” Tajani told reporters.
Bosnia-Herzegovina entry to the EU “will require more time”, he said.
Tajani was chairing a ministerial meeting of the ‘Friends of the Balkans’ group, which includes Italy, Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos were also attending the meeting, which was set to look at ways of accelerating the European integration of the Western Balkans.
Montenegro began entry talks with the EU in 2012, Serbia in 2014 and Albania in 2020, while Bosnia began accession negotiations in 2023.
