(10 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome – 10 February 2025
1. Mid of European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg
2. Wide of foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia together with the Friends of the Western Balkans group which includes Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Italy and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas and EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos posing
3. Wide of lunch meeting
4. Wide of Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaking to media
5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Antonio Tajani, Italian Foreign Minister:
“We are in favor of letting all the countries (join the EU) before 2030. Probably Bosnia and Herzegovina will need more time, but the rest, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia etc., are countries that made important steps forward and I believe 2029 will be the perfect time (for them to join). We want to help Bosnia and Herzegovina too, they will probably take more time given the situation but we are trying to support them and today’s meeting has also this aim, to facilitate the relationship between Brussels and candidate countries through the presence here of the High Representative (for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas) and the Commissioner for Enlargement (Marta Kos).”
6. Tajani speaking to journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Antonio Tajani, Italian Foreign Minister:
“As far as Kosovo is concerned, as in a democratic country, the person to be elected should be the one chosen by the people of Kosovo. It is important now to work for an end to a difficult period. Everyone must take a step forward, minorities’ rights must be respected, and I hope the tension that we see now will not continue. As you know very well Italian soldiers are also deployed between Kosovo and Serbia and I believe it is in everybody’s interest to have less tension in that area and if they want to be part of the European Union it is not with tension that one achieves results. Therefore I believe we must understand that we need to find some mediation and avoid provocations and quarrels and try to favor dialogue instead, the only recipe possible.”
8. Close of person writing
9. Italian and European flags outside Villa Madama
10. Exterior of Villa Madama
STORYLINE:
Top diplomats from Western Balkan countries met with European Union representatives and a group of ministers from European nations in Rome on Monday to discuss their route to EU membership.
Representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia met with counterparts from the Friends of the Western Balkans group which includes Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, and Italy, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas and the Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani underlined the EU’s objective to integrate Western Balkans countries by 2030.
“We are in favor of letting all the countries (join the EU) before 2030," he said.
"Probably Bosnia and Herzegovina will need more time, but the rest, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia etc, are countries that made important steps forwards, and I believe 2029 will be the perfect time,” Tajani added.
Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania are among candidate countries to join the Union.
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