Dr Michael Frendo has been quoted to have stated publicly on a number of occasions, that Malta wants Development Aid to be subject to policies regarding migration and asylum seekers. During the forthcoming General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting to be held on 21 and 22 November, when the Development Policy Statement ought to be finalised, Dr Frendo intends to push for conditionality in development aid. This has shocked the NGO community, both in Malta and throughout Europe. Earlier this year, the public consultation held by the Development Commission on the future of EU development policy showed there was general agreement that “development money should not be used to resolve migration issues nor be contingent on migration policy”. EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel also stated publicly that “there can be no question of making development policy and aid dependent on the aims of migration policy”. So, if Member States agree to Malta’s proposal, they would be going against both public opinion and assertions by the Development Commissioner.

Malta is still in the initial stages of getting to grips with development policy, both on a local level as well as on a wider European level. The first-ever National Development Policy ought to be published by the end of this year, and Malta has become increasingly more active on the European scene through the Council of Ministers and otherwise. This is in itself something very positive. It would be a big shame however if the first visible contribution by the Maltese government includes a new conditionality on development aid. It is in practice tantamount to punishing the poor for any perceived lack of compliance by their national governments. It is an umpteenth excuse not to keep our promises of delivering on the Millennium Development Goals. It would be another lost opportunity to help people organise themselves, to demand their rights, including landless people, factory workers, farmers, fishermen and people living with HIV and Aids. Dr Frendo ought to rethink this suggestion, and work rather to ensure that the EU’s asylum and migration policies contribute to the eradication of poverty while guaranteeing that they will not draw scarce resources from development budgets.

I do augur that in the forthcoming General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting, the EU Ministers agree on a set of new guidelines that put poverty eradication at the heart of it all. During this meeting, the European Union has an opportunity to articulate a vision of Europe as a community of states, which collectively honours its shared values, which recognises its shared responsibilities in the global community and which manifests itself in word and deed as a “Responsible Europe”. If however Malta insists on using its veto, it would be better to have no consensus at all rather than have a “European Consensus on Development” under these conditions, which would not prioritise the needs of poor people but put them on a level below EU interests on migration. The poor would be better off if the EU rejects Dr Frendo’s suggestion!

Vince Caruana was born on 10 April 1967. In 1991 he graduated in Education from the University of Malta, specialising in Physics and Mathematics. Three years later he obtained a Diploma in Political studies from the same university. Subsequently between 1995 and 1998 he studied Environmental and Development Education, obtaining an MSc from South Bank University, London. Vince is currently a part-time MPhil student with the University of Malta focusing on education for sustainability. He works as a self-employed in the field of Environment and Development Education, and lectures part-time at the University of Malta. Vince is very active in the development NGO scene and is a founding member of Koperattiva Kummerc Gust (Fair Trade Cooperative) and Kopin (Koperazzjoni Internazzjonali – Malta).