Italy says Russia or China could gain influence in Western Balkans if EU dream fails
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/09/2024 (750 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Italy’s foreign minister Tuesday voiced strong support for Western Balkan countries’ European Union accession bids, saying that otherwise the region could swing towards Russia or China.
Speaking during a visit to North Macedonia, Antonio Tajani said the bloc should “lend a hand to those peoples who want to be with us Europeans.”
“If we don’t do that, there will be someone else who wants to replace us, I mean Russia, China and other parts of the world, I mean Turkey,” Tajani said.
He spoke during a press conference with his North Macedonian counterpart Timcho Mutsunski in the capital Skopje.
Tajani said Italy is “working and will work for North Macedonia to be an effective member of the European Union as soon as possible.”
North Macedonia and neighboring Albania have been candidates to join the EU since 2005. They launched membership negotiations with the block in 2022, in a process expected to take years.
The other Western Balkan countries seeking to join the EU are Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Disputes with neighboring EU members have held up accession talks for North Macedonia. A decades-long spat with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia and the region’s ancient heritage was overcome in 2018.
But a newer dispute has emerged with Bulgaria, also centered on Balkan history, language and culture.
Following Bulgarian pressure, the EU has called on North Macedonia to change its constitution — inserting a reference to the existence of an ethnic Bulgarian minority — for the accession process to go ahead.
In exchange, Bulgaria would lift its objections to North Macedonia’s accession.
The previous, center-left government in Skopje had agreed to make the constitutional change, but failed to secure the required majority on parliament. North Macedonia’s new conservative government strongly opposes the proposed change, and is doing all it can to delay it.