For their first meeting since Luxembourg took over the EU presidency in July, the 28 EU Foreign Ministers are discussing Friday and Saturday in Luxembourg the current migrants and refugees influx, the Middle East peace process, the Iranian nuclear agreement and issues in Eastern European countries, as well as Russia.

‘’Today, we will start with an issue that is very important for all of us, which is the Middle East Peace Process between Israel and Palestine. This is also related to the stability, security and peace in the Middle East. We should not forget crises when they are out of your own attention and keep our work going also on the files that are open since decades, as in this case,’’ said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as she arrived Friday at the informal ministerial meeting.

She said that some progress has already been made. ‘’The European Union has revitalised the work of the Mideast Quartet in these months. Just in these hours UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent invitation letters to the Foreign Ministers of the Quartet to convene a meeting of the Quartet principles in New York, in a few weeks from now, at the margins of the General Assembly of the United Nations.’’

She added that on the initiative of the European Union, Ban Ki-moon has extended similar invitations to join to the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and to the Secretary General of the Arab League.

‘’We hope that this re-start of the process can lead to improvements on the ground and also to re-open prospective and political horizons to the talks,’’ Mogherini said.

EU Foreign Ministers will also discuss the follow-up and the regional implications of the nuclear deal reached in June between the world powers and Iran.

‘’This is very much related also to the migration crisis, because we know very well that the roots of many of the refugees and the refugee crises that we are facing today in Europe - and not only in Europe also in the Middle East itself - are rooted in the crises and conflicts we have in Syria and in the Middle East at large,’’ Mogherini said, adding that the Syrian crisis especiallu will come back to the Foreign Ministers in a formal setting in one of the next Foreign Affairs Council.

Mogherini is also scheduled to address the European Parliament next week in Strasbourg on the Middle East Peace Process and the Iran nuclear deal.