Prime Minister, dear Robert. First of all, thank you very much for your kind words and for having me in Malta. It is a true pleasure to meet you in your beautiful capital.
It is very important for me to engage directly with all European leaders regularly, including their home country, and to listen to and understand all perspectives. This will help the European Council to achieve unity. Because unity cannot be taken for granted, we build it every day, at every meeting. We will need it again for a decision that will define what Europe is able to do between 2028 and 2034: on our next long-term budget.
We are now operating in a fundamentally different geopolitical environment from the one we faced when we last negotiated the budget in 2020. This new reality calls for a new approach to our budget, with a new structure and a new way of allocating our resources. We must be able to fund our new strategic priorities: competitiveness, defence, security and strategic resilience.
At the same time, the next budget should ensure funding for our cohesion and agriculture policies. They pull our regions upwards and support growth and jobs locally. In a nutshell, they have a direct impact on the prosperity of our citizens.
Reaching agreement by the end of the year is key. Because we need to ensure that funding keeps flowing without interruption. For our farmers and fishermen, for our students and researchers, for our businesses. So, our timeline is clear: agree in 2026, legislate and prepare in 2027, deliver in 2028.
The size of the budget is of course a critical question. Like national budgets, the European Union budget must deliver on its priorities within the limits of finite resources. Most of it is financed through member states’ national contributions, which we need to keep within reasonable limits. Therefore, we need new European revenues, the so-called new own resources, in order to reduce the pressure on national budgets. This will be a key component of an overall agreement.
Beyond the next long-term budget, we touched upon the main topics of our upcoming European Council meeting, as the Prime Minister developed. We discussed developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Middle East, which have implications for Europe’s peace and stability as a whole. They affect migration flows and have a direct impact on our energy security.We need to remain engaged in the region and I am grateful for your active role in this regard, dear Robert. The European Union will continue to work, including with regional and global partners, on the path towards a long-lasting peace, based on the two-state solution.
The geopolitical developments of recent years have shown us one thing clearly: Europe needs to accelerate its path towards greater strategic autonomy. And we are on the right track. The most important condition for greater European autonomy is our own unity. And that was the main purpose of today’s meeting with the Prime Minister Robert Abela, and of the talks I will continue to have with European leaders in the next weeks – to foster unity.
Dear Robert, I look forward to our work together at the next European Council.
Thank you very much.
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