The issue of irregular migration has undoubtedly become one of the major preoccupations of our citizens, and rightly so. The influx of boat people in our country has become really unsustainable and indeed such a small territory as that of our homeland cannot absorb the disproportionate amount of migrants and asylum seekers seeking shelter from wars, dictators, poverty, drought and desertification within the confines of our minuscule island-nation-state.

I am firmly convinced that the issue of irregular migration must always be tackled in a humane way rather than in a repressive one. Having said this, we at Alternattiva Demokratika had identified years ago two major causes at the root of our present problem: the lack of real solidarity and true responsibility sharing on the part of the European Union and the lack of concrete collaboration on the part of the Libyan authorities in order to defeat the Libyan, Sicilian and Maltese criminals forming part of the clique of human traffickers who are exploiting the lives of so many poor and helpless human beings.

With a view to achieving progress on the issue, we had decided upon a two pronged strategy: on the one hand, working with the Green Group in the European Parliament for the revision of the Dublin regulations and to put pressure on all EU states for effective responsibility sharing; on the other, speaking clearly and openly whenever we believed that the Libyan authorities were not living up to their international obligations.

Quite some time has passed, with seemingly little results. I do believe, however, that the developments in the past three weeks or so are pointing towards renewed and genuine awareness of the problems facing the Maltese people, both on the part of Libya and on the part of the EU.

As regards our North African neighbours, in contrast with the deafening silence coming from the PN and MLP, we at Alternattiva have been the only political formation to criticise vociferously the Tripoli authorities for their inaction in stemming the flow of irregular migrants departing from Libyan ports.

I must now admit that I am most pleasantly surprised at the recent developments. A few weeks ago, the Libyan ambassador in Malta was present on board a US navy frigate to witness for himself joint Maltese-US search and rescue operations in the sea off Malta. Then, on 30 August, Libya and Italy signed a e5 billion (over 25 years) friendship agreement, whereby Italy compensates the Libyan people for its colonial past while Libya agrees, among other things, to cooperate fully on migration issues.

We therefore now really look forward to extensive and effective collaboration between Libya, Italy and Malta towards the eradication of the human trafficking racket operating in the seas surrounding us.

As for the European front, the 2 September marked the overwhelming approval in the European Parliament (603 votes in favour, 53 against and 30 abstentions) of the report on asylum seekers and the Dublin Convention drawn by Green MEP Jean Lambert.

Through this vote, the European Parliament has called on the European Commission to come up with ways to help smaller member states like Malta on the periphery of the EU to cope with the adverse affects of regulations on asylum seekers.

The report drawn up by the Green MEP not also insists with the European Commission to consider European burden-sharing mechanisms when it comes to irregular migration but also highlights AD and Malta’s major preoccupation on this delicate issue, i.e. the concept of responsibility sharing by all 27 countries of the EU and a revision of the Dublin Convention to ensure that Malta does not continue carrying the disproportionate weight it is carrying at the moment in the examination of applications of asylum seekers.

Finally, it seems that something is moving both on our northern and on our southern front, as regards the issue of irregular migration. Let us hope that the initiatives of the last three or four weeks are just the first concrete steps of the coordinated action that is necessary to eradicate the problem.

What is certain is that Alternattiva Demokratika will keep on being active in this regard.

Arnold Cassola is

chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika