The Government of Malta has been heard, loud and clear. So much so, that the issue of immigration was the main point of discussion during European Union Council President Hermann Van Rompuy yesterday. But will anything come of it?
The Prime Minister, as heard on Al Jazeera on Wednesday night, said that in the crisis buildup, Malta was ready to explore all options. Asked by the person conducting the interview, he would not give a straight answer as to whether Malta was actually going to deport the asylum seekers who arrived by boat this week. We hope that it was indeed a measure that was calculated to bring the matter to worldwide attention and that there never was intention to do so. We will only know many years down the line.
It all also appears that the whole thing has been somewhat orchestrated as the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister was brought in for an unannounced visit and involved in discussions with Mr Van Rompuy.
On his part, Mr Van Rompuy said Mr Van Rompuy meanwhile said problems can only be solved through dialogue, negotiations, and discussions.
He said he is fully aware of Malta's concerns, which by far receives the highest number of asylum-related requests per capita in the whole of the EU. Mr Van Rompuy said that the EU is already giving the issue its much deserved importance and pointed out that Malta received some 80 million euros from the EU in financial support between 2007 and 2013. However, he said that money alone won't solve the problem.
Turning to the EASO headquarters set up in Malta, he said that there were other initiatives taken by the EU including border surveillance. He said that hopefully, in the near future, rules of surveillance related to external sea borders will come into force. He also said that Malta is not a racist country and that the foul language (our adjective) was only being used by a minority of Maltese people. He also said that it was not his position to comment on the intentions of individual EU leaders when speaking about the issue of burden sharing – in terms of EU countries taking on migrants from Malta.
These two issues are important. The first is completely off the wall. Racism is very much alive here in Malta. One can only watch in horror and disgust at the various videos that have been published on Youtube where Africans have been subjected to awful and inhumane treatment by Maltese people. Another post has been removed because Youtube deemed it to violate its policy on racist content – and that was a song by a local ‘artist’. Other groups and individuals are also using social networks to espouse racial hatred and to incite the most awful of reactions. So, we have to disagree, racism is very alive and well in this country. And on to the second point, that of burden sharing. It is clear that what the government of Malta wants is the resettlement of migrants in other EU countries. Although the issue of dialogue with Libya has been brought up (and this is positive), the crux of it all still remains to be the fact that the government believes Malta should not and cannot cope with the influx of immigrants. And in this light, the foot stomping and chest beating seems to have borne no tangible results. And so it all continues. While Malta bleats and rages, hundreds continue to put themselves at risk as they try to cross the deadly Mediterranean Sea.