The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Malta Business Bureau (MBB) have joined business organisations from the nine Mediterranean EU Member States in calling for stronger EU support for island economies and a Blue Economy strategy that takes their specific challenges into account.
Ahead of the MED9 Summit in Split, Croatia, on Tuesday, the nine business confederations issued a joint letter to the MED9 Heads of State or Government, accompanied by a Business MED9 position paper on the Blue Economy.
The business groups are calling for an ambitious EU budget that protects Cohesion policy, a Blue Economy strategy that works for islands, and a Pact for the Mediterranean developed with the involvement of businesses from the outset.
Following sustained engagement by the MBB with its Mediterranean counterparts, the final position includes several references to islands and recognises tourism as a strategic pillar of the Mediterranean Blue Economy.
The letter calls for an "ambitious and modernised EU budget" and stresses that Cohesion policy remains essential to ensure that all regions can contribute to and benefit from Europe's competitiveness agenda.
It also calls for Cohesion policy to remain a central pillar of the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework, with funding clearly protected from other policy areas.
On maritime transport, the business groups said EU action should support the modernisation and decarbonisation of maritime value chains while maintaining the competitiveness of islands, coastal regions and ports and avoiding the diversion of traffic towards neighbouring non-EU ports.
The issue is particularly relevant to Malta, with the MBB having repeatedly raised concerns that the maritime EU Emissions Trading System could encourage transshipment activity to North African ports without delivering corresponding emissions reductions.
Malta Chamber President William Spiteri Bailey said Malta's voice was stronger when expressed as part of a common Mediterranean position.
"We now look to Government to carry these messages into the discussions in Split," he said.
MBB CEO Mario Xuereb said the MED9 countries account for around 41% of EU GDP and almost half of its businesses.
"The decisive point is that islands are no longer a footnote: the final text links maritime decarbonisation directly to the competitiveness of islands," Xuereb said.
The Business MED9 position paper also highlights the higher transport costs faced by island economies because of their lack of land connectivity. It says these structural disadvantages should be taken into account when designing EU transport, port and state-aid policies.
Following input from the MBB, the paper also calls for the 2026 review of the EU ETS Directive to translate its impact on ports into concrete legislative proposals, arguing that the impact on ports had been recognised during the 2021 review but had not resulted in meaningful legislative action.
The paper places Blue Tourism prominently on the agenda, covering areas including skills for nautical services, marine hospitality and cruise operations, as well as port-city integration.
It also proposes the appointment of an EU Blue Economy Envoy within the European Commission and the creation of a "Friends of the Blue Economy" group of MEPs.
MBB's Brussels-based representative Nigel Caruana said southern European business federations were increasingly coordinating their positions.
"We are keen to be a vocal partner of this informal group and hope this paper puts island connectivity and tourism at the centre of the agenda," he said.
Business MED9 brings together the leading business confederations from Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Together, the nine countries account for around 41% of EU27 GDP, 46% of its population and approximately 48% of EU businesses.
The EU Blue Economy employs more than 4.8 million people and generates around €890.6 billion in turnover, according to the European Commission's 2025 Blue Economy Report.
For Malta, the issue of connectivity is particularly significant. As one of the EU's three island Member States, alongside Ireland and Cyprus, Malta faces structural economic constraints which are recognised in Article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The European Commission published its proposal for reform of the EU ETS on 17 July, including an MBB proposal to reduce the transshipment activity threshold from 65% to 50%.
The MBB is continuing to call for additional safeguards for islands, including a 50% derogation from maritime ETS surrender obligations for routes serving small islands without a fixed connection to the mainland.