Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo did not mince his words on the issue of irregular immigration these past few days.

On two separate occasions, he made things very clear that Malta is not happy with the response from the international community, in particular from the European Union, to the problem of irregular immigration, which has stretched the country’s resources to the limit apart from creating other difficulties.

During a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Kinga Goncz last week, Dr Frendo said that the EU is dealing with Malta with the mentality of “small countries, small problems, and this is unacceptable…All attention is on Spain which is getting assistance and Malta is being kept in the lurch”.

Last Monday, Dr Frendo widened his scope and in a strongly-worded statement given to EU ambassadors in Malta and Maltese ambassadors in EU countries, he urged the EU to provide further assistance to member states facing massive influxes of irregular immigrants through the provision of emergency funds.

He said the EU needed to engage more directly with Mediterranean partners, and called for joint sea patrols to start immediately, mainly to stem the flow of irregular immigrants and to send a clear message that concrete action is being taken.

Giving figures to explain the complexity of the problem for Malta, Dr Frendo said that the 967 immigrants that have arrived in Malta so far this year would translate, in numerical terms, to over 135,000 in Italy, 145,000 in France, 96,000 in Spain and nearly 200,000 in Germany. This is the magnitude of the problem in a country with a population density of 1,200 people per square kilometre, he said.

Malta has finally taken a tough stand on the issue. It has waited for far too long to push the European Union to convert its words of sympathy into real action and real help. In the past, the government took a much milder position on the issue from a political point of view. Admittedly, such statements by the Foreign Minister should have been made earlier, but it is better late than never.

This newspaper has repeatedly urged the European Union to give Malta all the financial and physical help possible to tackle such an issue. After all, Malta’s membership in the EU should have given the country a stronger voice in these and other matters. But help, other than statements expressing support and understanding, has been too little.

Contacts via diplomatic channels and statements made by the government over the past months seem to have fallen on deaf ears. For example, according to the statement made by Dr Frendo last Monday, only Holland and Germany recognised the impact of irregular immigration in Malta by taking some of the refugees who were residing here.

There are many other countries with vaster space and bigger resources that can help Malta in this regard, but as yet they are still to show their verbal backing in real terms.

It is hoped that Dr Frendo’s statement will be quickly followed up. The fact that it was presented to all other 24 EU member states through their ambassadors here or Malta’s representatives abroad in one day shows an urgency that the European Union should understand, individually as nations and collectively as a union.

As we have often said, irregular immigration is not only a problem for Malta, but a problem for the whole of Europe. And, as such, a concerted effort from all sides should be forthcoming in making an attempt to first of all give assistance to all those countries which are being adversely affected by such a phenomenon, and this includes Malta largely because of its geographical location; and secondly to identify the causes of such an influx and act to stem the flow.