EU Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice and Interior Franco Frattini has pledged his full commitment to start joint patrols in the Central Mediterranean this summer.

At a meeting with Maltese Foreign Minister Michael Frendo at the Morocco Conference on Migration and Development, Commissioner Frattini reaffirmed his personal commitment to helping Malta with its irregular immigration problem.

Dr Frendo told Commissioner Frattini that joint patrolling outside Maltese territorial waters and the search and rescue region will serve as a deterrent to international criminal organisations which use Malta and the Central Mediterranean route to traffic human beings.

He said that EU joint patrolling is essential for Malta this summer. “For my country, irregular immigration is not just another problem on which we hold conferences, like any other problem. This for us is an issue of vital importance,” he insisted.

During the meeting, Mr Frattini agreed to support the proposal put forward by Malta to hold a preparatory meeting in Malta for the Tripoli EU – AU Conference.

Dr Frendo held a number of bilateral meetings with Libyan Secretary for European Affairs Abdallah Obeidi to ensure that the final Morocco Declaration reflects commitment for the European Union – African Union meeting to be held in Tripoli early in 2007.

Foreign Minister Frendo insisted that the EU – AU meeting in Tripoli is crucial to rectify the imbalance created by the Morocco Conference which focused only on the Western Mediterranean route and ignored the acute problems faced by Malta and the Central Mediterranean route.

“The message to the international criminal organisations must be that no route is easy any more, while the Morocco Conference has focused only on problems facing countries on the Western Mediterranean route such as Spain and Morocco,” Dr Frendo said.

Secretary Obeidi agreed with Minister Frendo’s views on ensuring a holistic approach in tackling illegal immigration. Malta and Libya had presented a joint paper in the 5+5 Meeting held in Malta in June 2005, in which the two countries had called for a meeting that would bring together countries of origin, transit and destination to engage in one holistic process.

“Of course, Spain and Morocco are both members of the 5+5 Western Mediterranean Dialogue. We are very happy to see that the work carried out by Malta and Libya in the June 2005 5+5 Meeting in Malta has culminated in the Morocco Conference, which in itself was based on the concept of engaging countries of origin, transit and destination in one process, as had been suggested by Malta and Libya last year” said Dr Frendo.

On Monday and again yesterday, Dr Frendo made very strong representations to a number of African countries participating in the Morocco Conference, including Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Respect your international obligations,” Dr Frendo told them.

During these bilateral meetings, Dr Frendo insisted that these countries must shoulder their responsibilities and accept the immediate repatriation of their respective nationals who are currently in Malta illegally.

The Foreign Minister said that Article 13 of the Cotonou Agreement clearly places the responsibility for accepting such repatriation on the countries of origin, without further formalities.

“The upholding of the international Rule of Law is a duty for all States. Article 13 of the Cotonou Agreement is an international obligation of repatriation of illegal migrants and this obligation must be respected. Malta has been successful in pushing the European Union to enforce Article 13 of Cotonou. We are pleased to see that, after repeated pressure from Malta in various European fora, the European Union is now engaged in talks with these countries of origin to enforce the provisions for immediate repatriation,” said Dr Frendo.

Later on yesterday, Dr Frendo expressed his satisfaction that the final Morocco Declaration reflects Malta’s requests to tackle illegal immigration with a holistic approach and to engage countries of origin, transit and destination together in one process.

“We have supported the Morocco Conference fully and participated actively to ensure a positive outcome for all countries affected adversely by illegal immigration. Malta’s position was made clear before the meeting. We are pleased to see that the final Morocco Declaration, after many drafts, reflects our concerns” he said.

On the issue of development, Dr Frendo said that development is only part of the solution to illegal immigration, just as the Morocco Conference is only part of the solution and if it were to remain on its own, it could also become part of the problem.

“Fighting international criminal organisations, the repatriation of illegal immigrants and stopping the flow of illegal migration are indeed very important factors in addressing illegal immigration holistically,” he said.