Prime Minister in Lisbon for second informal summit of Southern European countries

The heads of state of seven Southern European countries will be discussing issues including economic growth and migration

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (left), French minister of state for European affairs Harlem Desir (centre) and French president Francois Hollande (right)
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (left), French minister of state for European affairs Harlem Desir (centre) and French president Francois Hollande (right)

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is in Lisbon for an informal summit of Southern European countries, expected to focus on reaffirming “unity’ amongst the EU states.

The summit includes the heads of state of Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain and Malta.

Intended to show a force of unity, the leaders are expected to discuss areas of common interest, in particular, on economic growth, investment and convergence, internal and external common security, migration and co-operation with partner States of the Mediterranean and Africa.

This is the second such summit to take place, the first one taking place last year in Athens.

At a trying for the union, with growing Euroscepticism, the member states will reaffirm the confidence of the seven countries in the European project “and the conviction that building a stronger and more cohesive European Union is a priority that corresponds to the national interest of each country”.

It will also intend to give concrete contributions to the European Council's reflection about the future of the Union project, which was firstly introduced in the Bratislava summit.

In the area of internal and external security, the Summit is intended to support and encourage the implementation of the various initiatives currently under discussion in the European Union aimed at enhancing the security of the Union's external borders - in particular through the operationalization of the European Coast and Frontiers Guard - security within the Union, in particular against the terrorist threat - through, inter alia, greater sharing of information and operational cooperation between security services.

The prevention of radicalization and recruitment by terrorist groups in European societies will also be addressed with the aim of boosting investment at European level in the regeneration of urban centers, through a multidisciplinary intervention which includes the dimensions of urban planning, public security, economic revitalization, and educational and social services and equipment.

The dimension of external security and the recent developments in this area will also be discussed, leading to a message to support the implementation of the December European Council conclusions on the implementation of the EU Global Security and Defense Strategy, EU-NATO and the European Defense Action Plan.

On migration, the countries are expected to send out a message reaffirming the solidarity with the countries particularly affected by the migratory crisis.

In addition, the debate will focus on the external dimension of cooperation with the neighbours to the south of the European Union, with the aim of avoiding deregulated migration by supporting investment and economic growth on the African continent – an approach recommended during the Valletta Summit.