(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 17 - "Italy is fully committed to ensuring that tomorrow's European Council sends a strong political message about enlargement, demonstrating unity and collective credibility. Conversely, if we do not make progress on our partners' EU accession journeys, we risk losing them to our systemic rivals, permanently destabilising our neighbourhood and consigning the EU to irrelevance," said the Italia Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in her remarks to the Chamber of Deputies ahead of the EU Council. "We cannot afford to further delay the accession of the Western Balkans, which are already part of the European family and critical to our strategic autonomy," she said. "I will reiterate this again this evening at the EU-Balkans Summit, which I will attend immediately following the debate. Albania and Montenegro's recent achievements are very encouraging and show that the two countries have a real chance of accession in the very near future." (ANSA).