Off the wire
• Roundup: Death toll in India's squatters eviction drive rises to 24  • Ghana observes first anniversary of flood, fire disaster  • Palestinians reiterate inviolability of Arab peace initiative, ending occupation  • Scottish gov't expects bright future for North Sea oil  • CoE anti-corruption body blames France too slow in action  • EU vows to scale up clean energy innovation  • Rockets hit busy market in Yemen's Taiz, 18 civilians killed  • Tanzania arrests army officer, seizes ivory  • UNHCR decries death of refugee in South Sudan camp  • European Parliament president praises Portugal's stance on refugees  
You are here: 　 Home

Malta's upcoming presidency to reconnect EU to its citizens: official

Xinhua, June 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Maltese Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech said on Friday the 60th anniversary of the European Union (EU), which coincides with Malta's presidency, will provide member states with an opportunity to reconnect the Union to its citizens.

The statement was made when welcoming an EU delegation currently visiting Malta to coordinate the work between the European Commission and the Maltese government leading up to Malta's presidency in 2017. The delegation was headed by Alexander Italianer, secretary general of the European Commission, and Martin Selmayr, head of President Jean-Claude Juncker's cabinet.

The commission delegation agreed that, after the multiple crises the EU has had to face in recent years, Malta's presidency would offer an opportunity to re-launch the European project with the citizens at its core and a social dimension to complement the work done on economic policies.

"The 60th anniversary will add a symbolic dimension," added Selmayr.

Grech and the Commission delegates touched upon a number of other priorities for the Malta presidency including the multi-financial framework, the launch of the discussion on the single market, the digital single market, and the energy union.

The two sides exchanged views on the question of the UK's membership of the European Union, in particular, Malta's role in implementing the package agreed between the EU and Britain last February to preserve Britain's membership, or in addressing the various issues arising from Brexit.

The prospect of a settlement of the long-standing Cypriot re-unification issue was also discussed. Endit