Official visit by President of the Government to Malta

This meeting responds to the habitual dialogue between the Head of State or Government of the EU Member State that holds the Rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Malta in the first half of 2017) and his counterparts from the main Member States.

The meeting takes place at a time when the Maltese Presidency is almost at its halfway stage and at a crucial time for the main high-level challenges that the European Union is facing, following the Rome Declaration on 25 March, on the re-launch of the integration project of the 27 members, and on the very same day, according to the announcement made, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, will formally notify the President of the European Council of her country's wish to pull out of the EU.

For that reason, since it is a meeting with the Head of Government of the State that holds the Rotating Presidency of the European Union and due to this special time at which this meeting is taking place, the issues to be tackled will be dominated by the EU Agenda: Brexit and the upcoming steps to be taken by the European Council following the notification by the United Kingdom, and the adoption of guidelines by the European Council in the near future on the negotiations for the UK's exit. They will also tackle some of the priority aspects on which the activity of the Maltese Presidency is concentrating at this time and which are of interest to Spain: migration, strengthening the internal market and security, among others.

They will also address some aspects of bilateral relations between Spain and Malta, as well as certain aspects of foreign policy related to the shared interests of Spain and Malta as southern European neighbours: Libya, Tunisia and the Middle East Peace Process.

At an economic level, the efforts made by Malta are focused on extending the Single Market, a priority that the Government of Spain fully shares, in particular in relation to the Digital Single Market, and Energy Union. The Single Market, which constitutes one of the greatest assets of the EU, is configured as one of the essential elements to drive the competitiveness of European economies and to boost growth and job creation.