Six asylum seekers who arrived in Malta as irregular immigrants have been allowed to settle in Lithuania – a gesture which Jason Azzopardi, chairman of the parliamentary Foreign and European Affairs Committee, described as “a small, but important step forward in practical burden sharing”.
Dr Azzopardi was speaking at a joint media conference with Justinas Karosas, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Lithuania.
Professor Karosas said irregular immigration and burden sharing was a very sensitive issue in Lithuania, particularly because its people have been trying to protect their national identity, which was threatened during its 50 years of foreign occupation.
“We wanted to show solidarity with Malta. It was a small gesture, but it means a lot, because we want to try to encourage other EU member states to assist Malta and other countries having similar problems.”
Asked whether Lithuania would be ready to consider similar proposals of burden sharing in future, he said his country would certainly consider similar issues, but he admitted that due to the sensitivity of the matter in Lithuania, the country’s gates would not be wide open.
Dr Azzopardi expressed gratitude and appreciation to Lithuania, which accepted to take the immigrants despite being a relatively small country.
He said the Maltese parliamentary Foreign and European Affairs Committee visited Lithuania on 6 June last year.
During talks with Lithuanian leaders, members of the Maltese delegation made a strong emphasis on the need for practical solidarity with regard to irregular migration. They presented a request to the Lithuanian government regarding the resettlement of some irregular immigrants.
The Lithuanian government acceded to the request on 30 November, giving way to the beginning of the process for the resettlement of two families – Ethiopian and Eritrean – making up a total of the six people who have been accepted.
Prof. Karosas and the rest of the Lithuanian delegation visiting Malta, held talks with Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, who said this was a very important gesture by the Lithuanian government.
Dr Azzopardi announced that it was agreed that a parliamentary friendship group between the two countries would be established in the near future.
Prof. Karosas said Lithuania was grateful for the assistance it received from other countries, without which it would not have been able to regain its independence in 1990.
“It was only thanks to this assistance that we were able to remain existent in history, so we are showing our gratitude by assisting other countries. This time it was Malta and we are also assisting Estonia in its conflict with Russia. We will continue to play an active role in this area,” he said.
He added he was also glad that the EU was giving more and more importance to the problems of the smaller member states like Lithuania and Malta.
Prof. Karosas said that Lithuanian officers from the immigration services department had visited Malta and interviewed some asylum seekers. The two families that were chosen then visited Lithuania and said they never experienced a “real winter”, but were happy to take up the offer.
“There may be a variety of solutions to the problem, but we cannot change our winters,” he joked.