Italy's Meloni urges quick start of Ukraine's EU entry talks
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has urged European allies to accelerate negotiations leading to Ukraine’s access to the European Union
ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday urged European allies to accelerate Ukraine's European Union membership bid, as Rome hosted a bilateral conference on the war-torn country's reconstruction attended by hundreds of Italian and Ukrainian businesses.
“The future of Ukraine must include an always wider capacity of integrating with the European dynamics and institutions,” Meloni said, in joint statements with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the sidelines of the conference.
“The smartest way to thank Ukrainians for what they are doing is to accelerate their chance of being part of the European institutions. We need to acknowledge Kyiv’s enormous efforts to reform its system and bring it closer to targets required by the EU Commission,” Meloni added, urging a quick start of negotiations needed to grant Ukraine full EU membership.
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the conference attracted over a thousand companies, including hundreds from Ukraine. He stressed that the Italian initiative was part of a wider process, as both Germany and France already held their own bilateral conferences with Ukrainian firms in October and December, respectively, while G7 countries launched a Donor Coordination Platform in February.
