Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is in Cyprus today for the MED7 Southern EU Countries’ Summit, where leaders from the host country, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece have just started discussing issues of regional concern and interest, from migration to climate change.
During this meeting, a declaration to coordinate their agreed actions is expected to be signed.
The seven countries represent close to 40% of total EU population and GDP, along with half of its coastline. Since its launch in Athens over two years ago, the South EU Summit has evolved into a perennial gathering amongst Southern European leaders – leveraging on similarities across member states within the scope of economic and geopolitical challenges, along with policy objectives, to establish a united direction amongst the Southern EU region. In doing so, these summits aim to be both a catalyst and a role model, for similar dialogue and reform, for the entire EU, while illustrating the function of the region in upholding the core democratic values of the European project.
