MEPs from the EPP-ED Group kept up the pressure on the commission and the council regarding irregular immigration right through this week’s plenary of the European Parliament before the summer recess, with the holding of a press conference in Strasbourg on the emergency situation which currently exists in the south of the EU.

German MEP Ewa Klamt, Italian MEP Stefano Zappala, Spanish MEP Fernando Fernandez Martin and Malta’s MEP Simon Busuttil all addressed the press conference and criticised the commission and the council for not living up to the promises of assistance they had made this spring. They called for an immediate activation of the proposed EU sea patrols for the Mediterranean and for the need to develop burden-sharing mechanisms.

Chairing the press conference, Mrs Klamt said that the EU’s southern regions deserve the help of all member states and that the EU must work hard to develop a true common immigration policy which takes into consideration all the sides of the issue.

Dr Busuttil told journalists that Malta is never the intended destination for the immigrants who arrive and that this on its own is already proof of the responsibility which the whole EU must start to shoulder. He said that the unchecked flow of irregular immigrants arriving to Malta is fuelling a rise in xenophobia in the country and that the EU should not be an onlooker.

Showing photographs and newspaper cuttings from the Maltese press, Dr Busuttil explained how the problem of irregular immigration is affecting many different people, including the immigrants themselves who often go through harrowing experiences when crossing the seas, with hundreds losing their lives every year.

Mr Zappala rallied to the support of Malta when he confirmed Dr Busuttil’s argument that Malta is not the immigrants’ intended destination but that their intention is to land on mainland Europe. Mr Zappala, who led an MEP mission to Malta to investigate the immigration problem, also warned on the growing sentiment of xenophobia which he said could risk becoming an “epidemic” and the possibility that immigration, if not controlled, could become a cause in shifting the Maltese people’s positive outlook towards EU membership. Finally, Mr Zappala said that the council must show more commitment and implement what the European Parliament is proposing.

Mr Fernandez Martin, from the Canary Islands, explained how in the case of Spain, many of the immigrants entering illegally are not in search of humanitarian protection but are simply economic migrants. He insisted that the development of Africa is crucial in stemming the flow and avoiding the brain-drain from this continent.