A delegation from the European People’s Party, led by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, paid a visit to the Good Shepherd open centre for refugees in Balzan yesterday.

The delegation was welcomed by Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, and Mgr Philip Calleja and Fr Alfred Vella from the Emigrants’ Commission. The Church administers a number of such homes, where refugees or people who have been granted humanitarian status are cared for.Some 300 people live in such homes, with 200 of them residing in Balzan.

Other centres run by the government accommodate 1,700 refugees and people who have been granted humanitarian status.

In comments to journalists after the visit, Dr Borg said Malta is offering great help to people in need of protection. The EPP conference being held in Malta is discussing solidarity, and there is a need for all European Union member states to show solidarity with Malta in its efforts to keep up with the large influx of irregular migrants coming over from Africa. Malta is doing its part and in the last five years had saved more than 7,500 lives, he said.

Austrian MEP Hubert Pirker praised the Emigrants Commission’s work with irregular migrants, according to a statement issued by the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry.

Barbara Kudrycka, a Polish MEP, was quoted as saying that the EU had sufficient funds with which to sustain organisations such as the Emigrants Commission.