Both sides of Parliament yesterday agreed in principle over the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi made a statement for discussion before the document would be presented for approval before the European Parliament on 15 and 16 October.
Meanwhile, Members of the Opposition raised questions and pointed out their concerns regarding a number of issues including burden sharing.
Dr Gonzi explained how Malta had been insisting on the introduction of a mechanism for burden sharing between EU member states.
“The 27 member states unanimously approved for the first time of this fact during the last EU ministerial meeting held on 25 September,” he said. Thus, EU member states would be showing solidarity to countries facing great problems “particularly due to their geographic or demographic situation,” the pact says.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that this pact was a “commitment, direction and the order of work on which the European Commission is expected to work in the coming months.”
The pact deals with the problem “in a holistic manner” and would set a sound structure for solutions to be established. To date, each country dealt with the problem of irregular immigration individually rather than as a problem on union level, Dr Gonzi explained.
While working to overcome challenges, Dr Gonzi said, human dignity of these persons should always be kept in mind. Meanwhile, the government believed that this pact would strengthen Malta’s efforts to give asylum to those who deserve it while repatriating others who do not.
While giving a general view of the document, Dr Gonzi pointed out five main points with which the pact dealt.
Legal immigration and ways how this should be organised was one issue. These should take place after the priorities, needs and reception capacities of each country were determined by each member state. The pact also speaks of a ‘return directive’ which should assure that foreign persons residing illegally in a country would be sent back to their country of origin.
On this matter, the pact calls for more cooperation between the member states to repatriate people while ensuring that irregular immigrants were regularised only in cases of particular humanitarian and economic reasons.
The pact also calls for the strengthening of FRONTEX and possibly the setting up of two specialised branches at the eastern and western frontiers of the European Union for more effective frontier control.
Another issue would be the creation of a Europe of shelter thus, the European Office for Asylum Assistance would be set up in 2009 to facilitate cooperation between member states.
The European Union was also planning on creating a wider partnership with countries of origin and transit for the creation of synergy between immigration and development. Opportunities of legal immigration for work and study would thus be given to non member states according to their commitment to fight irregular immigration.
“Although not a solution to the problem in itself,” Dr Gonzi said, “This was an important step forward which should not be lost.” He therefore thanked all foreign ministers who worked with the Maltese government towards this pact.
Speaking on the matter, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici explained our country’s effort in persuading others to show solidarity due to our countries size, demographics and geography.
Members of the Opposition told the government that it was too lenient and gave in to the issue of burden sharing and repatriation. Meanwhile though, EU mechanisms did not allow any country to force others to repatriate people, Dr Mifsud Bonnici explained. Thus, the voluntary repatriation system was “the best we could get” and represented the same level of agreement to what Malta has in the past established with the United States.
Dr Gonzi too further explained the issue saying that no country should be obliged to take immigrants, otherwise Malta too could be obliged to take immigrants from other countries which faced huge problems.
He pointed out that Lampedusa faced a 196 per cent increase in immigration during the past year when Malta faced an increase of 37 per cent. In the mean time, more immigrants were getting humanitarian protection and refugee status because they were resulting to be from countries like Somalia and others in the Horn of Africa.
Another issue brought up by members of the opposition regarded the “failure” in the operation of FRONTEX.
Although both Dr Lawrence Gonzi and Dr Mifsud Bonnici agreed that it should be more effective, they did not agree with members of the opposition who regarded its operation as a failure but said that its resources should be improved and there should be more physical participation from it in our country.
“This is an achievement and we managed to move the EU in solidarity with us and therefore we should in no way lose it,” said Dr Mifsud Bonnici in reaction to criticism by members of the Opposition. He also made reference to what Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat said in the past days that Malta should not approve of the pact since it was not mostly effective for our country.
The document will be the first of its sort to be presented for approval to the European Parliament in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Malta was also working towards coordinating a meeting with the Italian and Libyan Ministers to continue safeguarding the common interest on the matter.