“Our first priority as Europeans should be to save lives. Migration crisis should not be shouldered by islands such as Malta on their own. We need concrete mechanisms and not act on a case by case basis,”  Nationalist MEP Francis  Zammit Dimech said .

He was speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg during Council and Commission Statements on the reform of the EU asylum and migration policy in light of the continued humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean and Africa.

Zammit Dimech said that 49 migrants, including 5 children, were left for almost three weeks onboard two boats. He said that whereas statistics show that migration is on the decline, situations such as these are arising from time to time. He said that it was people like us who were facing the consequences. Referring to the Let Me In campaign that made the rounds on social media, he questioned if we were truly embracing the European values of solidarity and respect to human dignity.

Addressing the European Parliament, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, said “Certain political attitudes did not change. Let us not fool ourselves. Having a boat at sea with people on-board for almost 3 weeks is not what the EU stands for. The EU is about human values and solidarity and we want to uphold these values”. He added that he plans to visit Malta in the coming weeks.

Zammit Dimech thanked Commissioner Avramopoulos for commending Malta for the solidarity shown and added that the Commissioner will be most welcome when he will be again visiting Malta in the near future. He agreed with the Commissioner that it was now up to the Governments of the EU Member States to finalise the reform of the asylum situation. What we need is a sustainable and a permanent solution and not one that is dealt with in a crisis like fashion on a case by case basis.

Zammit Dimech said that such situations were leading to tensions between Member States. Countries were agreeing to take migrants on a case-by-case basis. “We need a concrete mechanism and a robust asylum policy whereby all Member States show solidarity with one another and with human beings and not management by crisis. This is the responsibility of all Member States and not of small islands that happen to be in the migration route. We cannot procrastinate any longer.”

Zammit Dimech, a member of the Human Rights Committee, said that the EU had to invest more in Africa to ensure that Africans had a future in their own country rather than risking their life to cross over to Europe. He said that this was in our own interest too. “We need to ensure safe and legal pathways for immigrants to tackle human trafficking,” he added. 

Those who have no right to be in Europe need to be returned and more investment in this regard is needed. Only by doing so will we be able to assist those who really need our help and support said Zammit Dimech. More investment is needed to secure EU borders providing more resources including planes and vessels to assist all those involved in such a challenging task. “This is crucial to ensure our security and the security of migrants. It should not be the job of NGOs to pick up migrants. These are the policies we need and not bickering on who is responsible for which boat or who will take how many migrants” added Zammit Dimech.

Zammit Dimech concluded his address by appealing to all not to allow populists and extremists to influence them and the migration agenda. “Let us not allow anyone to spread hatred, let us not forget the value of solidarity which we need to uphold between ourselves as Europeans and with third countries.”