Both the government and the opposition agree on the current detention policy for irregular immigrants. This statement was made by both Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Labour spokesman on Home Affairs Gavin Gulia when parliament yesterday began discussing the budget 2007 estimates, starting off with the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry.

“Although Malta is the smallest country in Europe with the highest population density, we have a 53 per cent approval rate for irregular immigrants. However, it is important to note that protection is granted to those who deserve it. This year, around 380 immigrants were granted humanitarian status while 17 were granted refugee status.”

Gavin Gulia (MLP)

Before there is a decrease in crime over the years, the government cannot say it is winning the war against crime, Labour spokesperson on Home Affairs Gavin Gulia said.

Members of the police force are demoralised and this problem needs to be tackled, added Dr Gulia.

“There are police officers who are just waiting to complete 25 years of service and leave the force,” he said. “Some do not even wait and leave before.”

Dr Gulia said that the police are paid less overtime and are working longer hours since the shift system changed.

“Although the number of hours of service increased, it is at the expense of the police force and apart from the fact that they are not being paid as they should, they have less quality time with their family.”

Both the opposition and the government agree on Malta’s detention policy where irregular immigrants are concerned, said Dr Gulia.

“It is not fair to have an open-door policy for all those who land on Malta’s shores irregularly,” he said. “We believe that the detention policy should be kept in place as it seems the EU is reluctant to tackle Malta’s urgent needs on this issue.”

A shorter detention policy can only be sustainable if the EU adequately tackles the issue of responsibility-sharing and migration.

Even though the EU is providing funds, it is not the solution to the problem, Dr Gulia said. “The funds are given to keep the problem of migration within our shores. Malta cannot tackle this problem on its own.”

Dr Gulia said he doubted that joint patrols are the answer to the problem of irregular migration.

“Although the patrols are meant to be in force at the moment, immigrants are still landing on our shores,” he said.

Anglu Farrugia (MLP)

MLP spokesperson on justice Anglu Farrugia said that the Maltese law courts are understaffed and in a mess. He mentioned an interview with Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici published in l-orizzont yesterday, in which the he claimed to know of lawyers who are abusing the system. Dr Farrugia challenged Dr Mifsud Bonnici to mention these lawyers by name, adding that it is his duty and responsibility to address the problem.

Dr Farrugia suggested setting up a commission with one member of the judiciary on board. “The commission will tackle and review the way justice is implemented and executed in our country,” said Dr Farrugia.

He added that the Labour party is counting the months until it will be elected to government so that the changes needed in the judicial system will finally be implemented.

Morale among court employees is very low and disillusionment is high, said Dr Farrugia.

He pointed out that there have been no court auctions in the Gozitan court for the past five years, as the person who was responsible for them stopped working five years ago and was never replaced.

Dr Farrugia quoted this year’s budget estimates for construction work at the law courts.

“In 2006, Lm250,000 were allocated for construction at the courts. However, this was reduced to Lm80,000 in this year’s budget.”

Dr Farrugia asked Dr Borg if there were any cancelled projects to justify the gap in the estimates.

He added that the judiciary system cannot be held up for hours due to anonymous bomb scares, adding that security in the law courts is an issue that needs to be tackled.

Chris Cardona (MLP)

Labour MP Chris Cardona said this year’s budget estimates for local government did not take into consideration extra expenses, and does not reflect the extensive work it carries out.

He suggested setting up a unit within the Interior Ministry to help coordinate the EU funds which are available to local councils, and are not used in full.

“Malta is one of the countries that takes the least advantage of various programmes and schemes offered to local government for the EU,” said Dr Cardona.

He praised a scheme whereby a police officer is assigned to a local council. “The synergy between the police force and local councils is setting many people’s mind at rest,” said Dr Cardona.

However, he called for more collaboration between local councils and social services such as Agenzija Appogg.

The budget estimates need to take into consideration that more human resources are needed, he added. “If the police force needs more officers to keep police stations open at night, then the government should allocate these resources.”

The current system of local wardens is backfiring as it is not educating the people but putting them in a worse position, said Dr Cardona.

Mario de Marco (PN)

Nationalist MP Mario de Marco said the government has always increased the amount allocated to local councils – adding up to a total of Lm10,270,000 this year.

The local councils will also benefit from a total of Lm13 million in direct and indirect funds from the EU, he added.

Dr de Marco said the government is concerned about the people’s complaints on local wardens: “The petitions board was set up for people who feel they were issued a ticket unfairly. At least 58 per cent of the petitions were granted in favour of the applicants.”

Dr de Marco praised the police for the excellent job they were doing, especially where irregular immigrants are concerned.

“Almost 1,800 immigrants landed on Malta last year, and this year 1,500 landed in the first three months.”

Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici (PN)

Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said the judiciary is an important sector of Maltese society and “we are trying to reform it to meet today’s needs”.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he could not understand why people are shocked when he speaks about the real problems clearly.

He was referring to a comment made by Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano in a recent interview with another newspaper.

“We have to do all that is possible to reduce the delays in court – there are still many people who want to see an improvement.”

Since the small claims tribunal was set up, it has helped speed up the judicial process. “It has received a total of 12,000 cases and at present has 1,400 pending cases,” Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

In 2001, there were a total of 13,280 pending cases, he said. These decreased to 7,722 in 2006 – amounting to a reduction rate of 80 per cent.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici called for more coordination and cooperation between all stakeholders to help the judiciary become more efficient.

With reference to Dr Farrugia’s statement on court auctions in Gozo, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that the last court auction was held in July and that a number of court auctions are scheduled for December.

Although the first step to improving security at the law courts has been made, there are still a number of lawyers who complain about the situation. He also added that the number of bomb threats has decreased.

Tonio Borg (PN)

“It is known that Malta has a problem of irregular immigration but we rose to the challenge on various fronts,” said Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg.

So far, a record number of immigrants have landed on Malta’s shores this year. In June, a record number of 642 immigrants arrived for a given month, and this meant that the number of immigrants in detention centres rose to 1,400.

Dr Borg said that an EU fund should be set up for countries which suffer from the problem of irregular immigration.

“Burden-sharing also means that the extra migrants should be split and shared with other countries,” he added.

He pointed out that he is sceptical on whether joint patrols in the Mediterranean will resolve the problem of immigration.

The bulk of the ministry’s budget – Lm16.4 million – is allocated to the police force, said Dr Borg.

He remarked that although Dr Gulia said many police officers were demoralised and wanted to leave the police force, in a recent call for applications, over 350 potential candidates applied.

Since 1998, there was an increase of Lm3 million in salaries, even though when the Labour Party came into power in 1996, they reduced the wages of the police force.

“Even though Dr Gulia claims that crime is on the increase, theft decreased by 11 per cent this year and theft from houses decreased by 19 per cent,” said Dr Borg.

He added that a special effort was being made to increase the police presence in local councils.

Dr Borg also said that police officers who served for 25 years have the opportunity to retire with two-thirds of their salary and continue working.

“When Labour was in government, it reduced the pension available for police officers who wanted to retire early.”

Although fewer than 50 police officers left the force early this year, around 134 left during the 22 months of Labour government, Dr Borg added.

He also explained that under the new shift system, the number of global working hours has increased by 20, but officers now have 91 off-days as opposed to the previous system where they had 61.

The report of yesterday evening’s debate on the estimates of the Education Ministry will be published tomorrow