Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani will chair tomorrow’s ministerial meeting of the ‘Friends of the Western Balkans’ group and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Balkan countries. The group comprises seven EU Member States (Italy, Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia) which are working together to support the accession of the six Balkan countries that are applicant or potential applicant countries for EU membership: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Hungary was also invited for the first time, in recognition of its commitment to supporting the integration of the Western Balkans.
Two months after the last ministerial meeting held in Bratislava, which Minister Tajani attended on behalf of Italy, the aim of the Rome meeting will be to continue the discussion on how to accelerate the process of EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, by fostering concrete projects in the areas of regional cooperation and integration, and on how to promote their contribution to the European Union’s strategic autonomy, particularly in the sectors of food security, supply chains and connectivity. For this reason, those attending the meeting will include the FAO’s Deputy Director-General, Maurizio Martina; the European Coordinator of the Western Balkans–Eastern Mediterranean Transport Corridor, Marian-Jean Marinescu; and the InCE Secretary-General, Franco Dal Mas.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs will reaffirm the Italian Government’s firm commitment to the reunification of the Western Balkans with the European family and to keeping regional developments and the accession process of the six countries high on the political agenda. Italy continues to believe that the EU enlargement process must remain based on merit and on standards common to all applicant and potential applicant countries.
Mr Tajani will also reaffirm Italy’s support for regional integration and cooperation initiatives, highlighting the role of the InCE and Italy’s current presidency of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). On the subject of connectivity, Tajani will highlight the importance of infrastructure projects such as Corridor VIII and IMEC, which position the Western Balkans as a natural bridge to Central Europe and the Euro-Asian corridors, helping to diversify supply chains and thereby reducing vulnerabilities and external dependencies. Finally, it will leverage administrative twinning arrangements and forms of technical assistance (Twinning and TAIEX) that transfer institutional expertise and capacity to applicant countries: Italy is the leading Member State in terms of the number of experts deployed under these programmes.
