European leaders of Mediterranean or southern European countries gathered for an EUMed9 Summit in Athens on Friday, where conclusions focused heavily on reversing and preventing climate change and decisively protecting the Mediterranean basin’s environment.
As detailed in the signed Athens Declaration, issued immediately after the summit, southern EU leaders expressed their commitment to implement the Paris Agreement and to reduce global temperature by 1.5C in relation to pre-industrial levels.
The mini summit brought together European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the heads of government of host Greece and those of Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovenia and Spain, along with the Portuguese foreign affairs minister
Earlier on Friday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the two most recent partner members of the EUMed initiative, namely, Slovenia and Croatia, before expressing Athens’ commitment towards a target of Europe becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
