The 80th EU-US inter-parliamentary meeting will take place in Valletta tomorrow and on Saturday.
Three working sessions have been agreed between the European Parliament and the US Congress:
(1) Recent political and economic developments in the EU and the US and opportunities for strengthening transatlantic cooperation;
(2) Security in the Mediterranean including developments in Libya, naval operations, preventing irregular migration and terrorism; and
(3) Democracy support in third countries and other areas of EP/US Congress cooperation in foreign policy.
Members will have the opportunity to hear expert testimony from former European Parliament President Pat Cox on the importance of joint parliamentary action on democracy support, notably in Ukraine.
They will also be briefed by Rear Admiral Andrea Romani, the Force Commander of Operation Sophia (EUNAVFOR MED) on the security situation in the Mediterranean.
In addition to these sessions, the agenda includes a visit aboard one of the Italian navy vessels participating in Operation Sophia.
The aim of the meeting is to take stock of the current legislative agendas on both sides of the Atlantic and see how to strengthen further our cooperation on the common areas where both Houses have responsibility.
Given the Maltese setting, members will address questions of security cooperation with a focus on the Mediterranean area as well as examining how to strengthen non-military approaches, such as the use of EU and US parliamentary diplomacy in helping to stabilise volatile countries and regions.
The previous such meeting under the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue (TLD) took place in November 2016 in Washington DC.
The EP delegation is led by US Delegation Chair Christian EHLER (EPP, DE) and will be composed of 13 MEPs from six political groups, including a vice-president of Parliament, the chair of the Constitutional Affairs committee, two vice-chairs of the Foreign Affairs committee and two Maltese MEPs.
The US Delegation is bipartisan and composed of 11 representatives sitting on various House committees, including foreign affairs, homeland security, intelligence, ways and means, judiciary, appropriations and budget. It is led by Mario DIAZ-BALART (Republican, Florida).