The Malta Labour Party yesterday lashed out at the EU on the issue of irregular migration, saying it should start putting into practice what it has been talking about for a long time.
Labour’s main spokesperson for European Affairs, George Vella, and the main spokesperson for home affairs, Gavin Gulia, addressed a news conference at the Labour Party headquarters to comment on the problem of irregular migration.
Dr Vella said the government had the opposition’s backing on the issue and the MLP agreed that it was unfair for a number of members of the European Parliament, and particularly the commissioner responsible for justice, freedom and security, Franco Frattini, to attack Malta the way they did recently.
The country was already stretching its resources to help migrants who fled their country, but Malta’s resources were limited and comments such as Commissioner Frattini’s could not be accepted, said Dr Vella.
He appealed to the EU not to criticise Malta, but to keep its promises. He said that Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo were right in proposing the concept of burden-sharing and solidarity among EU member states with regard to irregular migrants who were rescued in international waters.
Commissioner Frattini seemed willing to make a move with regard to this proposal and Dr Vella said he hoped the EU Council of Ministers meeting on Monday would take the proposal on board.
“Apart from the patrols, the EU must commit itself to combat the root causes of the problem,” said Dr Vella.
Asked about Libya and the way Malta must deal with the way the Libyans were handling the problem of irregular migration, Dr Vella said he believed that Malta must not fight alone.
“The Libyans are our neighbours and our friends, so we must consider our interests. We should certainly, as Maltese, form part of an EU delegation to deal with Libya, but we cannot speak or deal with the country on behalf of the EU.
“We would not have enough strength to deal with the Libyans, but we should form part of a common European effort,” he argued.
Speaking about the success or otherwise of EU-Libya negotiations, Dr Vella said: “I cannot say discussions were successful, as Libya asked for sophisticated and expensive equipment that was out of reach.”
Dr Gulia spoke about the more technical aspect of the issue, referring to Malta’s irregular migration problem as unique.
Lampedusa and the Canary Islands both have their respective countries – Italy and Spain respectively – to lean on. Malta is a sovereign state with limited space and resources, said Dr Gulia.
He appealed to the EU to become more sensible in Malta’s regard and agreed with Dr Vella that the EU should put into practice what it has been repeatedly saying about the matter.