Malta’s Speaker of the House of Representatives, Carmelo Abela, held separate meetings in Slovakia with his Cypriot counterpart Annita Demetriou and Slovak National Council Speaker Richard Raši.
Abela and Demetriou discussed how Malta and Cyprus could work together on EU matters and address challenges they share as Mediterranean countries. They also compared their countries’ budget rules and practices.
In his meeting with Raši, Abela called for EU member states to stay in close contact as they prepare for the bloc’s next long-term budget, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework.
The two Speakers also explored how the Netherlands, Malta and Slovakia could coordinate their work as they prepare to take turns chairing the Council of the European Union, with the aim of carrying shared priorities from one presidency to the next.
The war in Ukraine also came up in the discussions. Abela said Malta’s neutrality was compatible with speaking out against aggression and violations of other countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.
