Sept 30, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
The leaders of nine southern European Union countries were meeting in Malta
on Friday to discuss common challenges such as migration, the EU's
management of which has vexed national governments in Europe for years.
The nations represented at the one-day summit included host Malta, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Slovenia and Croatia, which have coastlines on the Adriatic Sea, were added to the so-called “Med Group” in 2021.
Two top EU officials — European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel — were invited to the
closed-door meeting. The leaders of the EU's 27 nations have an informal
European Council meeting scheduled for next week in Granada, Spain.
The European Union considers Portugal, which has a long sea border along
the Atlantic Ocean, part of the Mediterranean grouping. Prime Minister Antonio
Costa told reporters when he arrived in Malta that “we don't have great
expectations about the results” materializing from Friday's discussions but the
meeting could help “create a path” for the Granada gathering.
“Migration is one of the great issues of the future of the European
Union,'' Costa said. What's needed is ”more solidarity, more responsibility and
more unity.”
However, unity among EU members on migration has been elusive, as witnessed
in Brussels during a Thursday meeting of interior ministers, who are tasked
with enforcing individual nations' rules within the broader contours of EU
regulations.
Italy, for example, which now receives by far the largest
number of migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea, has pushed in vain
for fellow EU nations to show solidarity by accepting more of the tens of
thousands of people who reach Italian shores.
Many of the migrants are rescued by military boats, humanitarian vessels or
merchant ships plying the waters crossed by migrant smugglers' unseaworthy
boats launched mainly from Tunisia, Libya, Turkey and elsewhere. Earlier this
month, some 8,000 migrants stepped ashore on Lampedusa, a tiny Italian fishing
island, in barely 48 hours, overwhelming the tourist destination.
The relentless arrivals, which slow only when seas are rough, have put
political pressure on one of the Malta summit's attendees — Italian Premier
Giorgia Meloni. She came to power a year ago after campaining on a pledge to
stop illegal migration, including with a naval blockade, if necessary.
Under current EU rules, the nation where asylum-seekers arrive must shelter
there while their applications are processed. In Italy's case, the majority of
migrants arriving by sea from Africa and Asian countries are fleeing poverty,
not war or persecution, and aren't eligible for asylum.
But because Italy has so few repatriation agreements with home countries,
it is stymied in sending unsuccessful applicants back. Many migrants slip out
of Italy and into northern Europe, their ultimate destination, in hopes of
finding family or work.
Little progress has been made on a new EU pact as the member states bicker
over which country should take charge of migrants when they arrive and whether
other countries should be obligated to help.
Three years after unveiling a plan for sweeping reform of the European
Union’s outdated asylum rules, such squabbling fuels doubt as to whether an
overhaul will ever become reality.
While heads of government or state represented most countries at Friday's
summit, Spain sent a foreign ministry official because Acting Prime Minister
Pedro Sánchez was involved in discussions at home on forming a new government.
While the talks in Malta were heavily concentrated on migration, other
common challenges, including climate change, economic growth and continued EU
support for Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia's February 2022 invasion
were also on the agenda.
Croatia Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Cyprus President Nikos
Christodoulides, France Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, Greece Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Portugal's Prime
Minister António Costa, Slovenia's Prime Minister Robert Golob as well as
Spain's State Secretary for the European Union Pascual Ignacio Navarro Ríos
will be joining Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela for the summit.
--
(Malta’s
media)