“There is no magic wand solution” to the irregular immigration problem, British Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said during a press conference earlier this week.

Mr McNulty was in Malta for discussions with Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and, as expected, the talks centred mostly on this subject.

Some 1,000 immigrants have come over to Malta since the start of the year, and although, with winter on the way, the influx should drop, we must admit that the difficulties that such a phenomenon have created for our little country are great.

In all, there are 1,150 immigrants in closed centres administered by the Armed Forces of Malta, another 75 being held at the police complex at Ta’ Kandja and another 120 at police headquarters in Floriana.

The government is trying to put pressure on the international community in a bid to have a strong collective effort to deal with the prevailing situation. It probably took a bit longer than it should have done to realise that the problem of irregular immigration was overwhelming, but now it seems that the ball is rolling.

Mr McNulty’s visit this week was in fact another step in the government’s efforts to find support – financial and otherwise – to tackle the issue.

The British Minister’s visit gained importance in view of the fact that Britain holds the European Union presidency.

Mr McNulty said he believed that the irregular immigration problem must be dealt with at EU level and that Britain is committed to help in finding solutions.

A high-level working group has, for example, been set up to explore EU-Libyan relations and is working on an action plan in this regard. Malta’s stand on the issue – which was explained to Mr McNulty at his meeting with Dr Borg – will be put before this working group.

According to Mr McNulty, the working group will come up with short and long-term measures. “We need to talk about resettlement and provide Malta with immediate assistance in terms of human resources for the police force and the armed forces,” he said.

These are, of course, among the biggest problems Malta is facing. It needs the collaboration of other countries who would be willing to accept irregular immigrants via resettlement programmes. It needs more human resources, as currently both the police and the AFM are over-stretched due to the huge number of irregular immigrants that have landed in Malta in recent months.

It also needs money to provide its assistance. The cost of taking care of the irregular immigrants who come here continues to rise every year. The open and closed centres where these people are kept are bursting at the seams and the government has already said that another centre will be opened by the end of the year. The provision of food to some 300 immigrants will have to be farmed out, as the army and the police cannot cope any longer.

All this means that Malta needs help... and it needs it now. Matters cannot be allowed to deteriorate further.

It is probable that the influx of irregular immigrants will drop over the winter months, although last winter we did have arrivals too. But next summer it is highly probable that more immigrants will attempt to cross over from Africa into Europe. This summer, we had almost daily arrivals – not to mention the many others who made it to Lampedusa, Sicily, Greece and Spain – and there is nothing to indicate that next summer will be any different.

The problem has grown year after year, and it is not likely that it will fizzle out any time soon. This is why Malta needs all the help it can get to deal with the situation. The arrival of 1,000 immigrants per year, in a country with a population of 400,000, is not small.

It is true that “there is no magic wand solution”. But the international community must realise that Malta cannot be left on its own.