Priority on Balkan countries: Italy supports Ukraine’s accession to the EU, but there is a nuance

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that the country supports Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. At the same time, Rome considers the accession of the Balkan countries to the EU a priority.

This is reported by Corriere Della Sera .

Tajani noted that Italy generally supports Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the European Union, but has its own priorities regarding enlargement. According to him, the first EU members should be the countries of the Balkan region.

“We support Ukraine’s accession, but the Balkans come first for us. We have made commitments to them, and they are a priority for us,” Tajani noted.

The Minister also announced planned diplomatic events related to the Balkans. In particular, a meeting in the “Friends of the Balkans” format is scheduled to take place in Rome on March 3.

In addition, Antonio Tajani announced a visit to Serbia, which is scheduled for April 1. According to him, Italy will act together with partners from Germany.

“On April 1, we will be in Belgrade with German Minister Wadeful to express our concern to Serbia. We will support Ukraine, which needs to make progress,” Tajani said.

It is worth adding that the European Commission is developing a simplified plan for Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which envisages a two-tier membership model. This decision could accelerate Kyiv’s accession, but at the same time has raised concerns in European capitals about the consequences for the Union.

As previously reported, Ukraine officially received a negotiating position from the European Union in Lviv on three key clusters, which will become the basis for further technical work on EU accession.

Recall that European Commissioner Marta Kos and Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka presented a joint action plan of Ukraine and the EU, which contains 10 key reforms.

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