EU leaders met in Granada to discuss priorities for the upcoming years and the enlargement of the Union

The key topic of the meeting was the EU’s strategic priorities for the next five-year period after 2024. But this was only the beginning of a debate that will culminate in the adoption of a new strategic agenda by the European Council in the middle of next year. “We need to focus much more on making the EU more competitive to stack up better in global competition. We talked about the need to be more independent in strategic sectors. We need to reduce our excessive raw material dependence on a few unreliable countries. We need to work on strengthening the EU’s own production capacity in strategic areas such as pharmaceuticals, the automotive industry and others,” said the Prime Minister.

EU leaders also discussed further EU enlargement to the East. “We need to give a clearer roadmap to the countries that have long sought to join the European Union and these are primarily the Western Balkan countries. It is not possible to continue in this hesitant way. There are also the ambitions of Ukraine and Moldova. All these countries need to be given a clear prospect and we need to agree on the next steps,” said the Prime Minister. More information in the final declaration.

The leaders also discussed the need to actively combat irregular migration. Prime Minister Fiala stressed that the key to the solution is to strengthen the protection and management of the external borders, prevent irregular migration, fight against smugglers and make the return policy more effective. “The situation that Italy is facing today is really serious. We need to change our approach. We need to focus much more on tackling irregular migration outside the EU. By the time the irregular migrants are on the territory of the Union, it is too late. We need to do more to fight smugglers, to cooperate more with countries of origin and transit, and this should be a common approach,” added the Prime Minister.