The leaders of the southern EU member countries on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to working with Turkey in addressing common challenges and cooperating in “migration, counter terrorism, transport, economy and trade.”
The leaders from seven EU countries — Spain, Portugal, France, Malta, Italy, Greece and Cyprus — convened in Nicosia for the fifth Summit of the Southern European Union Countries on Tuesday.
They met to exchange ideas on security, energy and migration in line with the “profound commitment to the European project.”
“We reaffirm the importance of the EU relations with Turkey and reiterate our commitment to maintaining an open dialogue, to addressing common challenges and to cooperating in essential areas of joint interest such as migration, counter terrorism, transport, economy and trade,” the leaders said in the joint declaration issued after the summit.
The summit, demanding that Turkey normalize its relations with its EU neighbors, reiterated its call on the candidate country to fulfil its pending obligations under the Negotiating Framework.