Italy’s PM Calls for EU’s Immediate Negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia

European Parliament (Photo:Print Screen You Tube)

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called on May 2 for "immediately" starting accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania and "speeding up" negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro.

At a time of heightened unity in the EU and its support for Ukraine in fighting the Russian offensive, "the full integration of countries that show European aspirations does not pose a threat to maintaining the European project, it is something that is part of its actualization," Draghi said in a speech at a European Parliament session in Strasbourg.

He said that Italy supported "immediately opening accession talks between the EU and Albania and North Macedonia in accordance with a European Council decision made in March 2020." "We want to give a new impetus to negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro and show more attention to the legitimate aspirations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo," Draghi said.