Opposition spokesman for home affairs Gavin Gulia yesterday spoke about the problems that Malta is facing due to the recent landings of irregular immigrants during a meeting of the General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Brussels.

Dr Gulia referred to the 900 immigrants who reached Malta's shores during the last few days and to the pressure on Malta's limited technical and human resources given the smallness of the country and its high population density.

He stressed that given these constraints, Malta needs the help of the other EU members.

The Labour spokesman expressed his disillusionment at the fact that for the second year running since Malta's accession in the EU, various EU politicians failed to live up to their promises of material and financial aid. In contrast, larger countries have easier access to aid.

While claiming that this two-weights two-measures approach is unjust towards Malta, he asked the OSCE to put pressure on the EU to take heed of the Maltese requests.

Dr Gulia said that although financial aid can relieve some pressures from the Maltese administration, it may leave the problems confined to the country's territory. He called for an equitable burden sharing between the 25 member states.