The Conference of European Union countries with access to the Mediterranean Sea (MED9) began in Paphos. The meeting is taking place at an extremely important moment for the region and Cyprus is actively promoting the de-escalation of the conflict in nearby territories.
The central theme is events in the Middle East
Developments in the Middle East will be the focus of the MED9 Heads of State Meeting. The MED9 group, in addition to Cyprus, which chairs this year, includes France, Greece, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia. The summit will be attended by King Abdullah II of Jordan and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The main meeting will be preceded by bilateral talks, followed by a working lunch to discuss developments in the Middle East.
This will be followed by two more working sessions focusing on EU-Jordan relations and Mediterranean priorities in the new EU institutional cycle.
A joint press conference of the heads of state and government will take place in the afternoon.
11 years – guarding the interests of the Mediterranean
The MED9 Group was created in 2013 at the initiative of the Republic of Cyprus to strengthen the role of southern EU states and cooperation. Initially, the bloc included seven states. In 2021, Slovenia and Croatia were added to them.
The EU's role needs to be more active
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to push for a more active role for the European Union in the region and a coordinating role for the EU.
Mitsotakis will confirm the importance of protecting the EU's external borders and supporting the bloc's border states, and will also raise the issue of deportations of refugees and cooperation with third countries.
Ahead is a meeting of the European Council
“The MED9 summit is the first summit of EU leaders, which will take place a few days before next week's European Council meeting [October 16-18] and is expected to be a platform for starting discussions on the European Council agenda,” sources said. government of Greece.
Ursula von der Leyen, who is visiting Cyprus as part of the event, jointly opened a new hemodialysis unit at Paphos Hospital with President Christodoulides.
It is a state-of-the-art unit costing €5 million and funded through the Recovery and Resilience Plan and national resources.
The text was prepared based on materials from the Cyprus Mail publication
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