Athens (AFP)

Greece is hosting the 8th summit of southern EU countries on Friday, where the focus will be on "climate change" and "security challenges", including the Afghan crisis and a possible wave of migration.

Dignitaries from nine European countries, meeting in Athens, with the participation of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, will address the risks that could "jeopardize security and stability in the Mediterranean", said the spokesperson of the Greek government , Yiannis Economou.

The agenda includes the migration issue and the situation in Afghanistan after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, but Athens intends to place particular emphasis on "the need for joint action" to combat change. climate, announced Mr. Economou on Thursday at a press point.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has already estimated that Friday's summit would be a "continuation of the debate on the protection of biodiversity" and on "the need for better cooperation in terms of civil protection, in particular for fires ".

Greece has been severely hit by forest fires, which devastated more than 100,000 hectares of its territory this summer.

But the scorching temperatures also favored major fires in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and Cyprus, among member countries of Friday's summit.

According to the Elysee Palace, the meeting will be the occasion for a "form of experience feedback" on the European civil protection mechanism and "the need to now resort more directly to this device" put in place there is two years to "strengthen our collective strike force" against the fires.

The Athens summit should also lead to the reaffirmation of "commitments to the fight against deforestation and the management of forests in the Mediterranean and in terms of civil protection", according to the same source.

This meeting known as Med7 (France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal) was renamed EU MED, due to its enlargement to Croatia and Slovenia.

Forest fire in Navalmoral de la Sierra, central Spain, August 16, 2021 CESAR MANSO AFP / Archives

Last year in Corsica, French President Emmanuel Macron and his counterparts from EU Mediterranean countries urged Turkey to end its policy of "confrontation" in the eastern Mediterranean.

While tensions with Turkey have since subsided, Europeans must "speak with Ankara about migration issues" in the Afghan context, according to the Elysee.

- Fear of a new wave of migration -

This year, the EU is desperate to prevent a massive influx of refugees from Afghanistan, which could be compared to the migrant crisis sparked in 2015 by the war in Syria.

More than a million refugees had then arrived in the European Union, mainly through Greece and Italy.

While Afghans account for 45% of migrant arrivals on Greek soil since January 2021, Greece has already said that it would no longer be a "gateway to Europe".

In the migrant camp on the Greek island of Leros, September 7, 2021 Theophile Bloudanis AFP

For Mr. Mitsotakis, "the best sign of European solidarity would be that we have common asylum rules and that each country contributes in its own way to the management of a problem which is not only Greek, or Italian".

EU leaders will focus on the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, negotiations of which have been halted due to the pandemic.

"The Asylum and Migration Pact is not at a standstill. There has been progress", according to the Elysee, but the Afghan crisis "necessarily raises the question of the adaptation of our system, both operational and legislative. orderly human management of migration ".

Mrs von der Leyen had announced that a defense summit would be organized by the French presidency of the EU in the first half of 2022, while the withdrawal from Afghanistan has revived the reflection on the autonomy of Europeans.

© 2021 AFP