Updated at 9.30pm

Leaders of southern European countries convened in Malta on Friday and pledged to continue working to develop a sustainable, comprehensive migration system. 

Channels for legal migration, improved control of the EU’s external borders, enhanced external action and a reformed and harmonised common European asylum system that included solidarity between EU member states all featured in a declaration agreed upon during the sixth South EU summit. 

The declaration also called on all rescue vessels operating in the Mediterranean to respect international laws and not obstruct operations of the Libyan coast guard. 

During the course of the mini-summit held in Valletta, leaders of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Malta discussed issues ranging from the possibility of creating an EU-wide minimum wage to the importance of tackling climate change. 

Ongoing migration concerns, however, weighed heavily on leaders' minds.  

"We need to step up work on the internal aspects (such as the “Dublin” reform and the protection of Schengen), namely through the reform of the Common European Asylum System with swift adoption of all the legislative proposals with a view to establishing a legislative framework based on shared responsibility and solidarity as a matter of priority for the next Commission," the Valletta declaration said.

Permanent and predictable solutions, they said, were now a matter of urgency and had to continue to be sought. 

They agreed that the EU should provide third countries with the highest percentage of departure of migrants a long-term, predictable and stable political and financial association framework.

Dr Muscat also thanked the Libyan coastguard, saying they were doing “a handsome job” carrying out migrant rescues.

The declaration in full can be read in the pdf link below.

European minimum wage

Addressing a news conference following the summit, Dr Muscat said the southern European states had agreed to push forward discussions for a European minimum wage. This, however, could not be discussed between Southern European countries alone.

Climate change and turmoil in Libya were also on the agenda of the summit, which sought to find common ground ahead of meetings in Brussels next week.

Opening the conference, Dr Muscat said the leaders had agreed that climate change needed to be at the centre of the European agenda. Europe needed to focus on issues related to plastic and an ongoing transformation to e-car mobility.

They also discussed migration, he said, and agreed that the issue could not be decoupled from the importance of freedom of movement. Issues related to Africa and migration should be taken in a global context, he said.

Italian 'frustration'

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said this was a very delicate moment since this was the first meeting of the six countries since Europe went to the polls in May.

He expressed his "frustrations" at European states for taking decisions on migration a year ago and not yet implementing them in practice.

“It is unacceptable to declare solidarity but not translate this into practice,” he said. “It risks creating more dissatisfaction among Europeans,” he warned.

On climate change, Mr Conte said Europe should reduce emissions by implementing common objectives. He insisted no country could face climate change alone.

French President Emmanuel Macron said all six states shared the same vision on the ongoing turmoil in Libya. They had also shown solidarity with each other in burden-sharing following the disembarkations of migrant rescue vessels, he added.

He reiterated calls for a mechanism to help Libya, and said the meeting showed consistencies in different positions.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa both reiterated the calls for a greener Europe, while Greek leader Alexis Tsipras called for Europeans to support the accession of Northern Macedonia and the Balkans.

All leaders reiterated support for Cyprus amid the ongoing conflict with Turkey.

Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades thanked the leaders for their support, saying that despite the conflict, countries were ready to work together to find a viable solution to the problem.

Reference to Mintoff

In a reference to his predecessor Dom Mintoff during his address to the leaders at the beginning of the summit, Dr Muscat said there could not be any security in Europe without security in the Mediterranean.

Former Prime Minister Mintoff had held up a 1975 conference in Geneva, insisting that that statement had to form part of the CSCE conference declaration.

“Security in Europe meant nothing to Malta unless linked to security in the Mediterranean,” former representative of the CSCE talks Evarist Saliba had subsequently explained.

Protesters outside Castille

While political leaders discussed inside Castille, protesters outside had other things on their mind.

The #OccupyJustice members stood behind a metal barricade in Castille square, holding photos of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and posters noting that former MP Manuel Mallia was lobbying to discredit a Council of Europe report critical of the Maltese government.

Other posters simply said “Daphne was right”. 

As the conference was under way, protestors chanted “Justice for Daphne,” and “shame on you”.

Dr Muscat seemingly referenced the demonstration at the end of the conference, turning to other leaders and saying “here we are open in everything, in the skies, and in freedom of speech”.

Another civil society group, Repubblika, used the pen to make their point.

In a letter to the various leaders who had convened in Malta, they urged them to insist with Dr Muscat that Malta had to comply with the European norms of democracy and rule of law, protect freedom of speech, guarantee judicial and institutional independence and stop the use of Malta for the illicit purposes of international criminals.

Repubblika also urged the leaders to join its call for the Muscat government to open an independent, international inquiry into Ms Caruana Galizia’s murder.

The Muscat government had victimised whistleblowers while allowing a minister and chief of staff to remain in office, despite having been caught opening secret companies in Panama.

The two had secured “considerable bribes” to tie Malta into unfavourable public procurement from Azerbaijan, Repubblika claimed.

It said senior figures in that dictatorship used Malta to launder money until the bank they used, licensed by the intervention and with the blessings of Malta’s government, was shut down by the European Central Bank.