The Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, arrived at the EU-Balkans summit held in Brussels. The summit will be followed by the European Council in the afternoon (and tomorrow). At the center of the talks is the enlargement to the east of the Union starting with Albania and Macedonia. In the last few hours, the Italian prime minister has said he is in favor. – The EU-Western Balkans summit has just begun. The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, congratulated the new premier of Slovenia, Robert Golob, who joined the EU leaders for the first time. The Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, is represented by his colleague from the Czech Republic, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, from that of Belgium, while the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, will arrive later. The final conference, scheduled for late morning, with President Michel and the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will also be attended by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, of the rotating presidency of the EU Council. «By opening its doors to Ukraine and Moldova, the EU is sending a message of geostrategic importance. It is a geopolitical decision and it is exactly what the Western Balkans need ». This was underlined by the president of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani, on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels, which precedes the European Council. “So – continues Osmani – I really hope that, while Ukraine and Moldova proceed simultaneously, the EU understands that we are part of the heart of Europe and that we too deserve to proceed because, if the EU does not give a clear signal to the Western Balkans , other malicious factors will use that space ”. Among other things, he observes, “this is the basic principle of freedom of movement: hundreds of millions of people outside Europe, as far as Venezuela, have the right to move around the EU without a visa and the people of Kosovo, less than two million people still do not have this right. And we met the criteria four years ago ». Osmani is indicated on the Council’s website as president of Kosovo, but with the clarification that “the designation does not affect the positions on the status” of the country, given that it is not recognized by all EU member states (Spain, for example, is careful not to do so, in order not to legitimize internal independence forces). «It is time that we all move forward – adds the Kosovar president – I hope that all European countries will give a clear message today. It is time for the Member States to support this process, because it is a great injustice towards the Kosovar people, ”she adds. Finally, a thrust against Serbia: Belgrade, you stress, “has shown no desire to align itself with the European sanctions against Russia. This, in addition to harming their European perspective, harms the rest of the region by allowing the Russians to increase their influence. Those who walk both the Moscow path and the EU path do not deserve “to move forward in the EU accession process,” she concludes.
The summit of the Western Balkans “is an important moment” to “reinvigorate the process” of enlargement in the region, to “send a clear signal”. This was stated by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, entering the EU-Western Balkans summit. “There are ongoing discussions in Bulgaria, we are following the situation closely,” added Michel, underlining the EU’s commitment to overcome the deadlock in the start of the accession negotiations of Albania and North Macedonia, blocked so far by the veto Sofia for an identity dispute with Skopje. The Bulgarian authorities are examining a proposal from the French presidency of the Council of the EU, with which, the head of the European Council continues, the aim is to bring down the Bulgarian opposition and thus advance the dossiers of North Macedonia and Albania. , “at the top of the EU priority”, concluded Michel.