Merkel, Tusk, Juncker on migration, Brexit at EPP Malta conference

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk attended the European People's Party (EPP) Congress in Malta on Thursday, where they touched on the issues of migration and Brexit in their speeches, local media reported.

Merkel said while free movement is important, it is important not to ignore European borders. "We don't want to isolate ourselves while looking at possible answers for territorial integrity, a principle we have guarded since the Second World War," she said.

She also mentioned there was need for a joint police force if the European Union (EU) is to protect its borders. "Syria is not part of Europe, but this does not mean that we don't have to act."

Tusk said that only unity in Europe can guarantee sovereignty. Speaking about the outcome of Brexit he said it had "made us more determined and more united than before."

He also stated that the main enemy of unity is populism and it must be challenged as this was "the opposite of modern unity."

Juncker said never has Europe seen the need for so much unity. He said that the continent which was tortured managed to get a 60-year period of peace through this union. "Now we have Brexit, a couple of days after the commemoration of the 60th anniversary."

He did however appear to be optimistic about the future. "This is a new beginning of something stronger and better. It is not the end, although people on other continents would want that, like Trump," the Malta Independent Online quoted Junker as saying. Endit