The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, underlined the role of the Med-9 group as a driver of European integration and called to strengthen this group as a forum for agreement among Mediterranean EU Member States.
During the inauguration of the meeting of the Med-9 group, which gather together Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain, which was held at Casa Árabe in Madrid, José Manuel Albares advocated the need to strengthen the European response to the challenges facing the Mediterranean region.
In turn, the State Secretary for the European Union, Pascual Navarro, together with his European colleagues, reaffirmed the interest in consolidating the Med-9 as a regional group that acts as a driving force of the EU. He also stressed the need to maintain structured political dialogue and strengthened cooperation between the EU and the Southern Neighbourhood.
The meeting was used to review the lessons learned in the response to the pandemic and to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, underlining the need for the EU to have an economy that can respond to the needs of its citizens and to strengthen its strategic autonomy.
This meeting is in preparation for the Med-9 Summit, which Spain will host in the autumn. This is the first time that Croatia and Slovenia have taken part in this meeting of ministers/State secretaries for European affairs, following the enlargement of this regional group at last year’s Athens Summit to include these two countries.
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