EPP Group in Naples to launch a New Mediterranean Pact

From 24 to 27 September, the EPP Group will travel to Naples for study days with its MEPs and key external stakeholders, allowing the EPP Group to listen to civil society, the voice of experts and those who make policy work on the ground.

“The EPP wants Europe to reaffirm its ambitions in the world and to recognise the particular importance of the Mediterranean," said EPP Group Chairman Manfred Weber MEP ahead of the visit.

On Wednesday, 25 September, members of the EPP Group will meet at the Royal Palace of Naples to debate the importance of the Mediterranean and the need to create a true Defense Union. The meeting will continue on Thursday, 26 September, with debates with academics on the EU reforms for enlargement, the strategy for a competitive Europe and the fight against terrorism, organised crime and human trafficking. The visit will end on Friday morning with a meeting of the EPP Group Academy on Europe and its neighbourhood, with a special focus on the challenges in the Mediterranean.

"The EPP Group Study Days will offer a unique opportunity to develop new cooperation strategies between the European Union and its Mediterranean neighbours. Naples is much more than a symbolic city of Southern Italy. It is a European city projected onto the world stage. With its thousand-year history, its central position in the Mediterranean, its international vocation, its vibrant economy and the polycentric and global nature of its culture, it is the ideal place to address the current geopolitical, economic and social challenges facing Europe," said Fulvio Martusciello MEP, Head of the Italian Delegation (FI) of the EPP Group in the European Parliament.

“Building on President von der Leyen's proposal to create a new Commissioner for the Mediterranean, our renewed partnerships should be based on a win-win and comprehensive approach, encompassing strategic fields where migration – from preventing illegal migration to fighting smuggling and improving return and legal pathways – stands alongside shared interests such as security, energy, and critical raw materials," concluded Weber.