Foreign Minister Tonio Borg has urged Spain to put the Mediterranean at the top of the agenda of the European Union because of the impact which developments in the region have on the rest of the bloc.

"We are counting on Spain to ensure that this part of the world is not relegated to a backwater of Europe. On the contrary, the Mediterranean needs to be seen as a main contributor to European security and prosperity. The two cannot be divorced," Dr Borg told a seminar on Spain's EU presidency, echoing an argument Malta has been making since the early Mintoff years in 1972.

Dr Borg said that while Europe and the rest of the world were busy dealing with the crippling recession, the region's concerns have slipped to the bottom of the European agenda.

The focus, Dr Borg said, needed to be both on political and economic issues. The EU, he said, imported €60 billion from Mediterranean countries and exported over €69 billion to the same countries. Much more can be done in this area.

But action was also needed in other areas as well. Among them, Dr Borg said was action to tackle pollution of the sea coupled with deforestation across the region as well as fresh water scarcity.

A second area of concern was migration as well as security of the sea.

Dr Borg said bordering stated needed to discuss their preparation for major oil spill in the region.

"To this aim we call for the development of a comprehensive Mediterranean civil protection system to protect our coastal populations and towns from a possible natural disaster."

The minister said the EU needed to work hard to become a credible stakeholder in the Middle East.

"This can only ever be achieved if and when the EU creates a coherent and consistent policy on the region. While the EU has been playing a role within the quartet and is the leading financial supporter of the Palestinian Authority, its political impact has failed to match its financial outlay," he stressed.