Spain proposes to organise a mini-summit including the heads of state and government of northern Mediterranean countries when it takes over the six-month EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2023.
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares put forward the proposal for the mini-Mediterranean summit at Thursday’s press conference in the framework of the seventh Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Barcelona.
Spain wants to put the Euro-Mediterranean matter at the centre of its EU presidency agenda, said Albares.
“Our common task is to establish a great area of stability and shared prosperity,” said the minister, adding that Spanish cooperation in the Mediterranean region is going to be revamped to refocus on youth.
For the EU, the priority is now to protect citizens from the social and economic effects of the war in Ukraine, he said, adding that the UfM forum in Barcelona is an “irreplaceable” tool for achieving greater cohesion in the region.
Spain’s initiative to hold a mini-Mediterranean summit has already been welcomed by EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell, recalling that it had “many years, too many” since a meeting of this kind had occurred.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
