Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today said he believed that there will be a "strong continuation" with the new Italian government led by Paolo Gentiloni over the work done with the Renzi administration.
Dr Muscat was speaking to journalists as he arrived at the European Council building in Brussels, where a summit of European Union leaders is being held today. The summit, which will focus mainly on migration and security, but also on Brexit, is the last one before Malta takes over the Presidency of the EU in January.
PM Gentilono, who previously served as Foreign Affairs Minister in Matteo Renzi's government, is attending his first EU Summit in his new role. He has just won a second vote of confidence in the Italian chamber of deputies.
Dr Muscat met Mr Gentiloni earlier today at a Summit of the Socialist group.
The Prime Minister said the main topic of the Council meeting will be migration. "Our aim is to see that migration, particularly in the central Mediterranean region, is put high on the agenda. A few months ago, in a time of crisis, the EU took drastic action with regard to Turkey. Just because no migrants are coming to Malta does not mean that there is no immigration crisis. There is still a full-blown crisis and we want to see it on the agenda."
The Maltese Prime Minister said he hoped this would not turn out to be just another talking show.
Dr Muscat said the Syrian conflict will also be a central theme, adding that EU leaders will come up with a common approach. He said the events that took place in the last few days and weeks were "unacceptable."
According to the official programme, leaders will discuss migration, where they will assess the EU-Turkey agreement on migration, discuss the issue of the reform of the Common European Asylum System, including on how to apply the principles of responsibility and solidarity in the future.
They will also assess progress on the Partnership Framework on migration and the results achieved concerning the compacts with the selected African countries, debating also whether these could be extended to other countries.
Security is also on the agenda, particularly enhanced cooperation on external security and defence.
EU leaders will also discuss investment and youth-related initiatives and the fight against youth unemployment, as well as external relations.
The Summit officially ends at 6:30pm, but all leaders except for Britain's May will discuss Brexit over a working dinner later on in the evening, where they will try to hammer out a united stand.
Quizzed by journalists this morning, May brushed aside concerns that she might be angered that European Union leaders are meeting without her to discuss Europe's future.
May said as she arrived at EU headquarters Thursday that Britain will trigger its exit from the bloc in March and that "it's right that the other leaders prepare for those negotiations, as we have been."
She said "we will be leaving the EU, we want that to be a smooth and as orderly a process as possible. It's not just in our interests. It's in the interest of the rest of Europe."