Malta has won its bid to host the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), which will be housed in a building used by the Malta Maritime Authority along Grand Harbour in Marsa.

EU justice and home affairs ministers unanimously agreed on Malta’s bid to host the EASO during a Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Brussels yesterday.

The other candidates for the seat of the EASO were Cyprus, and Bulgaria, which withdrew their bids when it became clear that Malta had the support of the overwhelming majority of member states.

The establishment of a European Asylum Support Office was one of the measures proposed by justice and home affairs ministers on 25 September 2008 as part of the Pact on Immigration and Asylum.

The aim of EASO is to facilitate, coordinate and strengthen practical cooperation among member sates in the field of asylum and improve the implementation of the EU’s Common European Asylum System.

The office will support EU member states in their efforts to implement a more consistent and fair asylum policy, for example by helping to identify good practices, organising training at European level and improving access to accurate information on countries of origin.

It will also be responsible for coordinating support teams made up of national experts that will be deployed at the request of member states faced with a mass influx of asylum seekers into their territory.

It will also provide scientific and technical assistance for the development of asylum policy and legislation.

The office will be set up in the form of an agency, an independent European body. The commission and the member states will be represented on the management board, which will be the office’s governing body.

The office will work closely with the authorities responsible for asylum in the member states and with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There will also be a consultative forum for dialogue with civil society organisations.

The EASO will be financed by the EU and will establish itself as a permanent office in Malta with a minimum staff compliment of about 60 employees.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi described the EASO decision as a major achievement for Malta, while Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said the decision demonstrates that other member states have recognised the difficulties that Malta is facing in this area.

Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg also commented on the decision, saying: “Out of the 12 member states that joined the EU since 2004, Malta is the fourth member state, following Poland, Lithuania and Hungary, to win a bid to host an EU agency or body.

“Besides the prestige of hosting such an important agency, and the economic benefits that this will bring to the country, the EASO will also deliver tangible results to overburdened member states in the area of asylum.”

And Malta’s permanent representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana, who coordinated the Malta bid said: “I am obviously extremely pleased at the result. It is always a great feeling when a lobbying campaign successfully comes to fruition. We faced tough competition, particularly from Cyprus, but ultimately we were able to persuade member states to support Malta’s bid”.

It is expected that this decision will be ratified during the upcoming European Council to be held on the 10 and 11 December.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said the EASO decision is another electoral promise that has come to fruition.