Contrary to reports that the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister’s participation in talks between Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and European Council President Hermann Van Rompuy this week was unannounced and unscheduled, the President’s office in Brussels has confirmed with this newspaper that it had been informed of the tripartite meeting.
On Thursday, Dr Muscat, President Van Rompuy and Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Sadiq Abdulkarim Abdulrahman engaged in talks at Castille that focused mainly on migration.
In reply to questions sent by The Malta Independent on Sunday as to whether or not the Libyan government’s participation had been scheduled, a spokesman for the European Council President replied in the affirmative: “Yes, we were aware and had been informed of the short meeting with the Libyan deputy PM in advance of President Van Rompuy’s visit to Malta”.
Neither the programme on the Council’s website nor the one sent to media houses by the Department of Information mentioned the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister, and journalists were surprised to find out about this when they arrived at the Office of the Prime Minister to report on Mr Van Rompuy arriving and shaking hands with Dr Muscat.
Addressing the press in a joint press conference with Dr Muscat, Mr Van Rompuy said he is fully aware of the concerns of Malta, which receives by far the highest number of asylum-related requests per capita in the whole of the EU.
Describing the discussions as positive, he is to brief the Commission in Brussels about the meeting, during which proposals were shared. While it is understood that Dr Muscat made proposals that were not divulged to the media, he insisted that Libya must be seen as part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Dr Muscat and Mr Van Rompuy meanwhile agreed that no solution can be expected after two days. “We can only resolve problems by dialogue, negotiations, trust and confidence,” said Mr Van Rompuy, adding that – with reference to the talks he had had – the enthusiasm for discussion was very evident in Valletta.
He explained that the EU is already giving importance to the issue and pointed out that Malta had received some €80 million from the EU in financial support between 2007 and 2013.
However, he said that money alone does not resolve the problem. The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) had been set up in Malta and other initiatives taken by the EU included an increase in border surveillance.
Mr Van Rompuy said he hoped that, in the near future, rules of surveillance related to external sea borders will come into force.
He stressed that the EU must address poverty, conflict, and human trafficking, while enhancing surveillance. This was discussed with the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister and Mr Van Rompuy is convinced that the EU must do more on different levels.
Last week, Dr Muscat phoned Mr Van Rompuy threatening him with considering to use the veto – Malta’s right to reject a decision or proposal made by the EU council – on matters unrelated to immigration to push the EU into helping Malta deal with the problem.
Dr Muscat argued that, so far, there has only been a pilot project of voluntary burden-sharing by the EU that was suspended and this was definitely not enough.