Nine southern European countries call for additional efforts to address migration and the climate crisis

2023-09-29 20:55:03

The leaders and representatives of nine southern countries of the European Union (EU) met this Friday in Malta to find common positions, in view of the informal summit of Heads of State that will be held on October 6 in Granada and will bring together the entire European club. The meeting, called Med9, has concluded without specific agreements but there is the common call to accelerate negotiations on the new Asylum and Immigration Pact to find “a deal” before the end of the current term of the European Commission. Likewise, additional efforts have also been called for confront both migratory flows and natural disasters.

Hence also the statements of the French president, Emanuel Macron, and the Italian president, Giorgia Meloni. On the migration front, “it is a exceptional situation, especially on (the Italian island of) Lampedusa. That is why there must be a single response (from the EU). “We all have to show solidarity to Italy and to all (the countries that are) ports of arrival,” Macron said. “Without structural solutions The countries of arrival will be hit first, but then all the others,” Meloni argued.

“We have to work with Africa,” the right-wing politician continued. And agree “European repatriation agreements, and not signed (bilaterally) by the countries,” he exemplified. “I agree with what Macron and Meloni said,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis backed her.

Climate change

In another section, Mitzotakis also asked “a solid collaboration“and coordinated”long-term” to face the consequences caused by the climate crisis, after the fires and terrible floods that their country suffered this summer. “Not just words Funds are also necessary,” concluded the Slovenian Robert Golob, referring to both the issue of migration and the climate crisis. “The issue of migration must be faced in a final and definitive way,” concluded the Maltese Robert Abela. “And funds must be found for natural disasters,” he added.

Along these lines, Spain. Specifically, the Secretary of State for the EU of Spain, Pascual Ignacio Navarro, who attended the meeting on behalf of Pedro Sánchez, said what needs to be done “is review the (EU) balance sheet 2021-2027”, and seek “the support of the other members” of the European club.

Sur vs norte

The latter, however, may not be so simple. On the immigration front, in fact, the Malta meeting came at a time when Italia has raised his voice again within the EU, after the massive arrivals to Lampedusa. With this as a preamble, in recent weeks, Rome and Paris have shown signs of wanting to leave the disputes of the past behind to agree on common policies regarding the situation.

But the same has not happened with Germanya country with which Meloni has maintained these days various disagreements also following Berlin’s decision to allocate funds to NGOs that rescue migrants in Italy. Something that Rome views with bad eyes.

“Yesterday (Thursday) I had some exchanges with (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz, because Germany presented some amendments (to the Asylum and Immigration Pact), one in particular that refers to the NGOswhich for us represents a step backwards,” said Meloni. With this, Meloni recalled that the Med9 countries represent “46% of the European population and 41% of the EU’s GDP.”