WEBVTT

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Mr Prime Minister. I would like to
start by asking you how would you

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evaluate this meeting?

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And what would you highlight as
essential?

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So, whenever we meet the leaders of
the Mediterranean members of the

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European Union, the meetings are
very constructive.

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In a way, this common Mediterranean
that brings us together helps us to

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find easier paths to common
solutions.

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There were a whole bunch of topics
on the agenda today.

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I would like to highlight two in
particular.

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On the one hand, the awareness that
climate change is not only here and

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now, but that it is the
Mediterranean area that will in some

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way be perhaps even the most
affected by climate change in Europe,

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as has been evident over the last
two years.

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Fires, storms and, above all,
floods.

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Not only in Slovenia, but also in
Greece, Libya.

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But it definitely means that we need
to prepare more.

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Just as we need to invest in green
transformations to reduce our

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greenhouse gas emissions.

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We need to do the same with the
resources to help those regions

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and countries that are affected
when such disasters occur.

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And that was one of the points on
which we agreed.

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And today we have also made a call
to the European Commission to

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increase the Solidarity Fund in the
preparation of the revision of the

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future medium-term budget plan of
the European Union, so that this fund

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can actually help the affected areas
more easily in the event of future

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disasters. On the other hand, how to
manage illegal migration is a very,

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very important topic.

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We were unanimous that,
unfortunately, at the moment, it is

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in fact, in a sense, people
smugglers who decide who comes to

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Europe. And everything that can be
done must surely be done to ensure

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that this control is taken over and
that the European Union and the

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European Commission, in a sense,
start to be the ones to take over the

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management of these migrations.

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The European Union needs labour, but
not in the way it is today.

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And only when we address this
problem together, only then can we

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come up with solutions
that actually work.

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Together means working
with the countries of origin.

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Cooperation with transit countries
and also with countries where illegal

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migrants enter the European Union
for the first time.

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The European Commission has drawn up
a ten-point plan.

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When this plan can cover everything
up to that point, we will be able to

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be effective on this issue.

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And the issue of refugees, both
economic and political, is something

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that Europe is unlikely
to be able to avoid.

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It is important that we really start
to deal with this in a common way.

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This group of nine
Mediterranean countries, was born as

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a kind of informal consultative
learning group.

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Coincidentally, Slovenia joined
quite late, after it had become clear

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what this was actually going to be
about.

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But can we say that today it has
actually become a powerful lobby that

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can influence Brussels policy?

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Definitely. This has already been
proven in previous years.

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Clearly, the positions we formulate
at the level of the Mediterranean

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Member States have a very important
impact on European policy as a whole.

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I think it is not only useful to do
this, but it is increasingly being

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recognised as a kind of

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a think-tank to generate ideas,
ideas on how to change European

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policy too, so that the interests of
us Mediterranean countries are indeed

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better taken into account.
-That would be all. Thanks.