SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Friday joined a long list of officials expressing support for the European Union club of North Macedonia along with other Western Balkan countries.
“Without the access of the countries of the Western Balkans (. . . ) the unification of the continent will be completed,” Mattarella told a news conference in Skopje with North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski.
Six Western Balkan nations are in other stages on their way to the EU’s 27-member club. The accession negotiations of North Macedonia and Albania in July, while Serbia and Montenegro made the most progress.
For everyone, the procedure, which is warned to diminish Russian influence in the region, is expected to take years.
Mattarella paid an official to North Macedonia on Friday for talks with the country’s leaders and addressed lawmakers in parliament.