(Adnkronos) – Italy backs the acceleration of Albania and Montenegro’s European Union membership bids and “also those of all other candidate countries,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Tirana on Wednesday.
‘We are absolutely in favour of speeding up negotiations for the accession of Albania and Montenegro,” Tajani told a joint press conference with his Albanian, Bulgarian and North Macedonian counterparts.
“But we also support accelerating the bids of all other candidate countries,” Tajani added.
The press conference took place after a meeting on the Corridor VIII strategic rail and road project to link the Adriatic and Black Sea.
“Reunification (of Europe) is crucial for us. We cannot allow these countries, which are geographically European and want to be part of the EU, to lose hope of becoming full members,” Tajani underscored.
“For this reason, Italy will do its part to speed up the (entry) process. Albania and Montenegro should be admitted before Ukraine and Moldova,” he said.
Montenegro hopes to joint the EU in 2028 while Albania is aiming for entry in 2030, a date the bloc described in November as “realistic”.
