Renzi calls for Albania, Balkan nations to join EU

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday in the Albanian capital that the European Union must take on new members.

"Either Europe enlarges or it misses an opportunity," Renzi said.

Declaring himself the "first sponsor" of Albanian EU membership, Renzi added that "when anyone questions Albania and the other Balkan countries joining the EU, they are getting everything wrong".

Speaking during a visit to Tirana climaxing the end of Italy's duty EU presidency, Renzi underlined that "we need this area to be not just a part but the heart of the EU in the face of the challenges that await us".

"We want to change our countries so that they are ever more capable of building the European ideal," Renzi said during a press conference with Albanian counterpart Edi Rama.

With regard to the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster, Renzi said that at "it will be the judiciary" that must determine the causes of the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster that killed as many as 11 people. As the death toll continued to rise, Renzi again praised the "heroism" of the rescuers who helped save 427 people in difficult conditions, preventing what he said could have been a "massacre".