The Spanish government has made a formal complaint to the European Union against Malta over what Spain considers a refusal by Malta to lend assistance to the Montfalcó, a Spanish tugboat that rescued 26 migrants south of Malta in Libya’s search and rescue zone.
Spain also plans for the issue to feature prominently at next week’s meeting of European interior ministers in Brussels.
Addressing the issue, Spanish immigration secretary María Consuelo Rumí commented, “We do not share Malta’s attitude, which does not seem correct to us. We have filed a complaint to the EU and we are going to continue speaking about the subject, and of the distribution of responsibilities.”
On 26 May the Spanish tug collected a group of 26 migrants in distress within Libya’s search and rescue zone and while the Armed Forces of Malta had supplied humanitarian aid to the vessel, permission to land the migrants in Malta was apparently denied on the basis that rescue had been undertaken outside Malta’s search and rescue zone.
The Montfalcó eventually proceeded toward Spain with its passengers but had broken down near Pantelleria. A Spanish rescue vessel was dispatched to collect the migrants and transport them to Spain, where they were landed at the port of Tarragona more than five days after leaving the proximity of Malta.
Speaking in the wake of the incident, Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg had commented, “They (the migrants) were found in a Libyan search area and were rescued by a Spanish boat. The situation is not life-threatening.” He also confirmed that Malta had not been formally requested by Spain to intervene in the case, or to allow the migrants it was carrying to land in Malta.
Ms Rumí, however, added that when the situation first developed, Spain had requested Malta to merely lend assistance and not to definitively accept the asylum seekers in Malta.
She also remarked that the Maltese authorities’ refusal to allow the Montfalcó entry to its territorial waters forced the migrants to suffer an extra five days on board the crowded tugboat, while a Spanish marine rescue vessel had to be deployed to meet the tug near Sicily and transport the migrants to Spain.
“I hope this situation does not repeat itself,” she added. “I hope that the maritime laws and the obligations entailed are respected by EU members with respect to all people who are near their coasts”.
In comments given to the Spanish press yesterday, Ms Rumí empathised with Malta in that it is a small country inundated with migrants, but insisted Malta’s attitude toward the Montfalcó incident had not been correct.
She added that in such an emergency situation where human life was at risk, such migrants “should have been welcomed by Malta and, once safe and taken care of, decisions about what to do with them would be taken.”
Spanish MEP Manuel Medina yesterday said he would also be making an oral question to the council in relation to what he described as Malta’s refusal to accept dozens of migrants shipwrecked near its territorial waters last week.
“Some member states are failing to fulfil their international obligations on the rescue of shipwrecked people by refusing to accept people rescued by ships of other member states.
“International treaties force states to help people in danger at sea, and the failure of any state to collaborate, as has happened recently, is a failure to live up to such standards.”
He added that Malta’s attitude in this respect “violates the fundamental principles of the European Union’”.
Mr Medina will ask the Council to guarantee the fulfilment of all international obligations throughout the EU, and will also request aid for individuals and public institutions that undertake humanitarian rescues.