Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant warned US Congressmen and European Members of parliament during the 80th inter-parliamentary meeting of the ‘Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue’ in Valletta that if the debacle in Libya is to be contained, there needs to be convergence between the US, Russia and the EU about what their respective legitimate interests in the area are, as well as convergence about the military doctrine that should be deployed in the defence of those interests.

The Maltese MEP, a member of Delegation  for relations between the EU and the United States, addressed the  working session on ‘Security in the Mediterranean: counter-terrorism, migration, sea operations, Libya’ together with Rear Admiral Andrea Romani, Force Commander, EU NAVAL FORCE Mediterranean. The meeting was held in Malta because it is an established practice by which the committee is convened in the country which is running the EU presidency.

Members of the European Parliament and United States Congressmen issued a joint statement on recent political and economic developments, security in the Mediterranean and democracy support in third countries, among other pressing issues,reaffirming their commitment to continue to strengthen and deepen their relations.

The ‘Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD)’ aims at enhancing the dialogue between European and American federal Legislators, the European Parliament and the American Congress. The TLD is founded on the principle that EU-US relations go far beyond foreign policy or trade issues, and also involve other fields of legislation.