(Adnkronos) – Italy strongly supports the European integration of the western Balkans and will work with Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria to take candidate countries from the region into the European Union, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday.
“Things have changed, we want to move forward. Italy is strongly committed to supporting your accession,” Tajani told the first Italy-Balkans tourism conference taking place in Rome.
“Also with the support of countries that are already part of the European Union—Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria,” Tajani continued.
Italy and the other EU member countries nearest to the Balkans can provide western Balkans candidate countries with “all the tools, including our expertise, and speed up the resolution of all issues around the various EU accession chapters, Tajani said.
“We must pay you great attention, more than the EU has shown in past years. At times, there have been mistakes, underestimations, and bureaucratic inflexibility that may have caused disappointment also in public opinion in the region,” Tajani stated.
Events like the first Italy-Balkans tourism conference organised by Italy’s tourism minister Daniela Santanche need to be organised in all sectors, Tajani said.
“Cooperation between strengthens overall strategy,” he said.
The forum can offer “an important step towards a political project to achieve growth – also through tourism,” Tajani told the conference.
Guests at the forum include the tourism ministers of EU candidate countries Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece.
