Malta, 28 April 2017 – Member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko participated with other members of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee in the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and on Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) which took place in Malta from 26 to 28 April 2017.
The participants of the Conference discussed the situation in the Western Balkans, the European Neighbourhood Policy, response of the European Union to threats and instabilities coming from the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as priorities and the strategies of the EU in the areas of CFSP and CSDP.
In her address during the debate on the EU priorities and the strategies in the areas of CFSP and CSDP, MEP Zovko stressed that the Union should certainly include into its priorities’ list the strengthening of resilience and capacities of the partner states in tackling the internal and external crisis in order to secure the ordinary course of civil and development activities in all countries. Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission took part in the discussion.
“The European Union should better coordinate its financial instruments for foreign financing with financial instruments of other international institutions, as better coordination shall generate synergy effects of financial instruments in the partner states. In order to make this happen, any weaknesses and any overlapping in financing should be identified, so that financing activities may be better coordinated with the uttermost goals to enhance the resilience of the partner states.“ – as of Zovko.