VALLETTA, Malta — The leaders of nine southern European Union countries met in Malta on Friday to discuss common challenges such as migration, the EU’s management of which has vexed national governments in Europe for years.
The nations represented at the one-day huddle included host Malta, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. With the exceptions of Slovenia and Croatia, which were added to the so-called “Med Group” in 2021, the countries all rim the Mediterranean Sea.
Two top EU officials — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Miche — were invited to the closed-door meeting. The leaders of the EU’s 27 nations have an informal European Council meeting scheduled for next week in Spain.
The huddle’s main aim is to help develop consensus among the members on major issues concerning all EU countries.
However, unity among EU members on migration has been elusive, as witnessed in Brussels during a Thursday meeting of interior ministers, who are tasked with enforcing individual nations’ rules within the broader contours of EU regulations.
Italy, for example, which now receives by far the largest number of migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea, has pushed in vain for fellow EU nations to show solidarity by accepting more of the tens of thousands of people who reach Italian shores.
Many of the migrants are rescued by military boats, humanitarian vessels or merchant ships plying the waters crossed by migrant smugglers’ unseaworthy boats launched mainly from Tunisia, Libya, Turkey and elsewhere. Earlier this month, some 8,000 migrants stepped ashore on Lampedusa, a tiny Italian fishing island, in barely 48 hours, overwhelming the tourist destination.
The relentless arrivals, which slow only when seas are rough, have put political pressure on one of the Malta summit’s attendees — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. She came to power a year ago after campaining on a pledge to…
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