The EU MED9 Summit is to be held in Malta on Friday, as the heads of a number of EU states will travel to the island.

The group is mainly formed of Mediterranean states.

Croatia Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, France Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Portugal's Prime Minister António Costa, Slovenia's Prime Minister Robert Golob as well as Spain's State Secretary for the European Union Pascual Ignacio Navarro Ríos will be joining Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela for the summit.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel will also be present for part of the summit.

In a press briefing about the event, the Head of the OPM Secretariat Glenn Micallef gave an overview of the topics that will be discussed. These include irregular migration, strategic partners in the Southern Mediterranean, the mid-term revision of the 7-year EU budget, Ukraine, the economy, energy prices, climate change and more. 

The MED9 summit comes at a time when the EU, and the Mediterranean states in particular, face a number of challenges. Aside from irregular migration, which is always a topic at the top of the agenda for a number of states, when it comes to the climate this summer saw wildfires in Greece, Spain and Italy, floods were witnessed in Libya and scorching temperatures hit parts of Europe, including Malta.

The summit is also being held after a number of ministerial level MED9 meetings took place In Malta over the past months. For example, the MED9 energy ministers, who met in Malta in May, committed to making the Mediterranean region a green energy hub that can lead the EU's drive for a decarbonised, energy-independent Europe. "The Med9 countries agreed that the Mediterranean can become a centre of renewable energy investments, with a focus on offshore renewables and new energy interconnections between EU and non-EU Mediterranean countries, to facilitate European investment in green energy," a government statement at the time had read.

Aside from the summit, a number of bilateral meetings are also expected to take place.