Tusk calls informal meeting of European Council in Malta

The leaders of the European Union have been asked to extend their stay in Malta in order to hold an informal meeting on the island, right after the Valletta Summit is concluded.

European Council President Donald Tusk has invited the heads of states and government to an informal meeting of the European Council next week in Malta.

Announced in April, the Valletta Summit was called in a bid “to forge a real Euro-African partnership” on migration.

Meetings of the European Council are usually held at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.

If we are to avoid the worst we must speed up our actions. I call informal #EUCO on #RefugeeCrisis in Valletta 12/11 https://t.co/CLMgylhF4J

— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) November 3, 2015

@donaldtusk informed me of intention to call informal #EUCO in #Malta immediately after #VallettaSummit -JM @eucopresident @EUCouncilPress

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) November 3, 2015

The Valletta Summit will bring EU leaders together with countries members of the Rabat and Khartoum processes, representatives of the African Union commission and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) commission, the United Nations (UN) and the International Office on Migration (IOM) to discuss migration.

In a letter issued today to the EU leaders, Tusk explained that the situation remained very serious and migratory flow continued at an unprecedented pace.

In October, Europe experienced a record level of 218,000 refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Meetings in September and October set orientations in developing a comprehensive European response to the migration crisis and led to some positive results.

“Faced with such a migratory wave, some EU states have been introducing different measures at internal Schengen borders. As I have warned before, the only way not to dismantle Schengen is to ensure proper management of EU external borders,” Tusk told the leaders in his invitation letter.

“We must do all we can to keep Schengen intact and so any initiative that may lead to the re-establishment of borders within Schengen should be withheld. If we are to avoid the worst we must speed up our actions. This is why I have decided to call an informal meeting of EU Heads of State or Government, to be held just after the Valletta Summit, on 12 November at 14.30.”

The purpose of this meeting will primarily be to assess the state of implementation of the measures decided so far, notably as regards to stepping up our cooperation with third countries, including Turkey, in order to stem the flows.

Other decisions include implementing the decisions taken on relocation; setting up hotspots in Greece and Italy, as well as reinforcing reception capacities and providing FRONTEX and EASO with the required additional expertise and discuss how to effectively reinforce the control of our external borders.

“Given the speed at which events are developing, it is essential for all of us to have up-to-date information. I therefore welcome the initiatives taken by the Luxembourg Presidency to activate the EU's Integrated Political Crisis Response arrangements and to convene an extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council on 9 November, which should usefully inform our discussions in Valletta,” the Council President added.

“While we will come back to the issue of migration at our regular meeting in December, I do not exclude that we would need to set further orientations already in Valletta. I will keep you informed in the run-up to our meeting.”