Italy and the Balkans: a strategic choice for Europe

The accession of the Balkan countries to the European Union will determine the political strength of our continent in the coming decades. It is the most important geostrategic investment of our time, because security, competitiveness and enlargement are now inextricably linked: without completing its unification, the Union will never reach the scale needed to be competitive in today's world.

The Balkans belong to the history, geography and political perspective of Europe. Italy has made it one of the key pillars of its diplomatic action: as an Adriatic and Mediterranean country, we know well that the security of our seas also depends on the stability of the countries of this region.

That is why we strongly support accelerating their path towards membership in the European Union, in order to reunite the European family and expand the space of peace and opportunity.

Italy's commitment is reflected in a widespread diplomatic presence and continuous political dialogue: since 2022, more than a hundred high-level visits, bilateral meetings and multilateral initiatives have accompanied the reform processes of the candidate countries and concretely supported their rapprochement with the Union.

In this context, Italy is promoting the informal group "Friends of the Balkans", which brings together the Member States most determined to maintain European attention to the region at a high level. The meeting that we are organizing today in Rome, with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of the countries of the region, confirms Italy's strong intention to give new impetus to the European path of the Balkans.

Accession requires deep reforms: the rule of law, efficient public administration, digitalisation and the quality of institutions. Italy supports these efforts with concrete operational tools. We are at the forefront of administrative partnership and short-term technical assistance programmes - Twinning and TAIEX - which are at the heart of the accession process, as they enable the transfer of knowledge, experience and institutional capacity from Member States to candidate countries. In the Balkans, Italy is the first Member State in terms of the number of experts engaged in these programmes: we believe that European integration should bring concrete and visible benefits to the daily lives of citizens and the economy even before membership, strengthening confidence in the European project. For this reason, we consider it short-sighted to postpone further steps in the accession process of countries like Serbia, which have already made significant progress in a number of key areas.

Investing in the development of the Balkans means investing in the strength of Europe. Thanks to the large number of its companies operating in the region, Italy is already one of the most important economic partners, with trade exceeding 10 billion euros and around 800 companies operating in the area, contributing to local economic growth, the creation of quality jobs, the modernization of production and the green and digital transition. Through development cooperation, we operate in key sectors - from health to infrastructure, from energy to vocational training.

An equally important chapter concerns connectivity. The Balkans are the link between the Adriatic, the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Europe. That is why we support the development of major infrastructure corridors, starting with Corridor VIII, which will connect the Adriatic and the Black Sea, as well as the improvement of railway, port, energy and digital networks. In this context, we also see the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC), on which we cooperate with partners such as India and the Gulf countries.

Thanks to its geographical position, Italy wants to establish itself as a European hub for these new routes, making the Balkans a natural bridge to Central Europe and the Eurasian corridors. The issue of transport links is inextricably linked to the strategic autonomy of our continent, the security of supply chains and food security.

That is precisely why we invited the Deputy Director-General of the FAO, Mauricio Martina, to today's meeting.

European integration, economic development and connectivity require a solid security framework. Here too, Italy has a leading responsibility: we have led the NATO KFOR mission in Kosovo fourteen times, the EULEX Kosovo mission twice and the European mission EUFOR Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina three times, contributing through civilian and military instruments to regional stability and the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

The integration of the Balkans represents a geopolitical choice for Europe: its full inclusion in the European Union means consolidating its southeastern flank, strengthening its stability and increasing its capacity to act and exert influence at the global level. Italy will continue to work to ensure that the region's European path remains credible and based on merit, but also becomes faster, more predictable and closer to its citizens. For our continent, it is first and foremost a question of historical consistency, and only then of strategic necessity.

The author is the Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy