Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean - handover of the presidency from the European Parliament to the Parliament of Morocco. DMED members, headed by President Roberta Metsola, meet in Strasbourg with the Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi Alami. EP President Metsola addresses the members on the repercussions of the Ukrainian war on the Mediterranean region.

conference

statement

Strasbourg

EU - Morocco (T)

troubles in Ukraine (T)

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

Parliamentary Assembly of Union for the Mediterranean (T)

president's agenda

EP Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean: opening address by Roberta METSOLA, EP President in presence of Rachid TALBI ALAMI, President of the Moroccan House of Representatives

Title: EP Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean

Arrival of&nbsp;&nbsp;Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Arrival of the Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives of Morocco, Mr Rachid Talbi Alami, family photo, ambiance shots of the meeting, Strasbourg, France, 06/04/2022,  (9  shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Interpretation is available in French, English, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic for this meeting. Unfortunately, due to technical reasons, it was not possible to provide interpretation in German. Apologies for this and thanks for your understanding. If there are no objections, I will consider the agenda of today's meeting approved

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Dear colleagues, good afternoon to everyone, I welcome all of you to this meeting of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. Today is the first meeting of the delegation to the Union for the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly since the speakers summit and last December's plenary session, which marked the handover of the presidency of the Assembly from the European to the Moroccan Parliament. This is why I am particularly pleased to welcome His Excellency Mr Rasheed Be Alamy, speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. Together, we will discuss the dramatic war in Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP president, Of course, the political priorities of the Moroccan presidency and all that affects both sides of the Mediterranean. So once again, dear and dearest president, you are warmly welcome amongst us friends. I also invited all the delegation chairs of the Mediterranean region to join our debate. Interpretation is available in French, English, Italian, Spanish and Arabic for this meeting. Unfortunately, due to technical reasons, it was not possible to provide interpretation for this reason in German. Sorry for this and thank you, dear colleagues, for your understanding.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And if there is no objection, I will consider the agenda of today's meeting approved. That seems to be the case on point two of our agenda approval of the minutes of the meeting of the 28th of October last year on Friday, 1st of April, you received the minutes of that meeting by email. They will be approved without further ado tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning, unless you submit changes for or request for changes to the Secretariat. I have no more announcements. I will skip the point three of the agenda and I will move to point four, which is the political priorities and calendar of activities of the Moroccan Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. And that is exchange of views with the speaker.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Dear President, dear colleagues, unfortunately, I will not be able to chair the introductory part of this meeting today. However, Vice-President Pina Pochettino, who was responsible for the southern neighbourhood, has kindly agreed to replace me for the remaining part this morning. Dear President, we had the pleasure of meeting you bilaterally. We discussed several issues the priorities of the Moroccan presidency, the Assembly's calendar of activities, as well as the repercussions of the war in Ukraine on the Mediterranean region before giving the floor to our guest. Allow me to make some preliminary remarks

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Last December, the European Parliament was able to organise the seven two speakers summit and the Union for the Mediterranean plenary session, as well as all the meetings of the parliamentary committees in Brussels. Despite the sanitary conditions imposed on us by the pandemic, the active participation of MEPs, speakers of parliaments and national delegation members ensured, let's say, lively, interesting and sometimes quite heated debates. The plenary adopted the recommendations of four committees, speakers and delegates attending the summit, adopted by consensus, a joint declaration on the fight against climate change in the Mediterranean and under the presidency of the European Parliament. We successfully adopted a revision of the rules of Procedure, a new financial regulation, the budget for 2021 to 2022, and we also set up the Permanent Secretariat for the Union for the Mediterranean based in Rome.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And this meant that with thanks to the support of the other bureau members, Morocco and Spain, we achieved the objective we had set at the beginning of our presidency and that is to give new impetus to the assembly following a year of inactivity. And in this context, I would like to underline the firm commitment of the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue of my much appreciated and much missed predecessor of President David Sassoli. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of the Mediterranean Speakers Summit in December last year was one of the last meetings that he chaired at the European Parliament, where it is really very dearly missed. Dear President Taulbee al-Ahmed, we are facing complicated times as the destiny of the Mediterranean region is impacted by the war in Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, This European Parliament is taking it has taken a very firm position. We condemn the Russian military aggression against Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and call for continued humanitarian support for Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. The Russian attack is an attack not only on a sovereign nation, but it is an attack on democracy and ultimately an attack on elected parliament. It is an illegal violation of our contemporary international order. Evidently, the Mediterranean region is affected by the conflict. The Black Sea basin has become a flashpoint. Its economy is still suffering from the consequences of the pandemic and disruptions in supply chains. There are serious implications for our energy security in the medium and long term. Given that some member states are entirely dependent on Russian gas

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Ukraine exports 95 percent of its grain through the Black Sea, and in the last two years, more than 50 percent of its wheat exports went to the Middle East and North Africa, and therefore a disruption would have, I would say, would have before, I say, will have dire consequences for food security in many already fragile Mediterranean countries. Mr President, the. Parliamentary assembly for the Union of the Mediterranean, we would like us to ask that it joins the diplomatic call for de-escalation of the situation in order to restore international peace and security. I speak on behalf of all of us when I say that we are interested, very interested in hearing your views, in particular as to what initiatives you are planning for our assembly to take action. And of course, what other priorities will mark your presidency. So please the president, the floor is yours, and I will then leave my my chair to the Vice-President . Thank you very much.