EU leaders gather in Athens for Mediterranean summit

Athens, Sep 17 (EFE).- The leaders of Mediterranean members of the European Union met for a summit in Athens Friday where the migrant and climate crises sit high on the agenda.

The host of the gathering, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, hopes to secure a common strategy on the climate emergency, which will be the topic of debate at the summit before the COP26 United Nations climate conference in Glasgow in November.

With the Mediterranean particularly exposed to migrant influxes from the Middle East and North Africa, border protection and a consensus on EU asylum distribution policies will also be up for discussion.

Special focus will be given to the crisis in Afghanistan, where the recent Taliban takeover could prompt a wave of migration to Europe.

Representatives of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Croatia and Slovenia are poised to request that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, a non-EU county, abstain from any unilateral policies in the region.

The summit leaders are to approve two statements, one on climate and the other on migration.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen joined the summit Friday.

The host city of Athens has been placed under tight security for the event and local authorities banned protests for its duration. EFE

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