On Wednesday 2 November, Malta's Foreign Minister George Vella announced that the Maltese Presidency of the EU Council (first half of 2017) will place particular emphasis on the Mediterranean within the field of foreign affairs.
As far as possible, we aim to draw the EU's attention to the problems of the Mediterranean, he told a press conference in Malta, alongside High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. Vella described the situation in the countries around the Mediterranean: immigration, but also climate and blue growth. He went on to say that there was also a need to look into the opportunities opened up by the Mediterranean. According to a press release of the Maltese Foreign Ministry, the minister also hopes to invite his counterparts from the EU and the Southern partner countries and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss subjects of common interest, such as the aspirations of young people in the region.
For her part, Mogherini welcomed the decision to put the Mediterranean centre-stage. This is an excellent time for a Maltese Presidency that is planning to focus more and more on the Mediterranean, she explained, with an implicit reference to her own Italian nationality. She stressed the importance of using the Maltese Presidency to reiterate that whilst the Mediterranean is first and foremost a European sea, it is also a channel, a bridge spanning two continents, adding that the Maltese Presidency would provide the EU with the opportunity to work with the southern Mediterranean, not only on the management of migration, but also in terms of partnership, investment and growth. This, she went on to say, is a major opportunity, not just for the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, but also for the European countries to rediscover the Mediterranean Sea as a space for exchanges, not just a place with problems. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)