More than five hundred irregular immigrants have been brought to shore in the last few days. Neither the landings nor the number are unprecedented: the PN government had to deal with worse situations. But things are taking a different turn this year.

Plans were hastily made to have the immigrants deported to Libya. Just to make it that little bit more ominous, the intended flights were to depart at short notice in the middle of the night. It took a prohibitory injunction by the European Court of Human Rights to prevent international and Maltese laws being broken and people who had just been through a perilous sea journey being summarily returned to the dangers from which they had escaped without giving them the opportunity to ask for protection.

Immigration: a genuine cause for concern

Not that the situation is not daunting. Malta’s geographical position, its size and population density are what they are. Those arriving in Malta are mostly vulnerable people needing immediate assistance. At the same time, public health and public order issues still need to be kept under control. The challenge and the burden can never be under-estimated and the Nationalist Party fully understands the situation and remains concerned about the issue, even if it remains resolved to tackle it in a rational, moral and legal manner.

Vetoes and Mintoffian machismo in modern European Malta

Snide remarks, like those Prime Minister Joseph Muscat found fitting to make about Sweden and Commissioner Malmström, will not get him very far. Neither will threats to use Malta’s veto indiscriminately. In his memoirs, Guido de Marco tells how, following the re-activation of Malta’s EU application, senior European politicians would still make pointed references to Mintoff’s shenanigans at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki in the mid-1970s.

And what would Muscat veto? The agreement reached on the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework? There’s €1.128 billion earmarked for Malta in there. It also includes money to support countries such as Malta on immigration issues. Because you see, support on immigration matters is not only and exclusively “burden sharing”. A case in point is the recent investment of €700,000 from the European Refugee Fund for Malta to set up a comprehensive screening process for tuberculosis. It addresses a public health risk that is not mitigated by any relocation measures we might take.

If there was anything that was not surprising in the PL’s reaction, it was its attempting to justify its actions by digging up something – anything – from the PN’s quarter-of-a-century tenure. In his parliamentary statement, Joseph Muscat was quick to refer to the 2002 repatriation of around 200 immigrants from Eritrea. As with other instances when Labour sought this kind of defence, the similarity is marginal.

None of those immigrants had applied for asylum, despite having the opportunity to do so (they were adamant that they should be allowed to proceed to Italy, their intended destination) and the UNHCR had, at the time, deemed Eritrea to be a safe country of return. An independent inquiry at the time pointed out only a few procedural shortcomings on the part of the government. And more than 10 years of hindsight should have given us some more wisdom on the matter.

The PN’s prudence and tenacity

It takes strong and capable leadership to deal with such a challenging situation in a humane and compassionate way. The PN in government rose to that challenge. It acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and, at the same time, was careful not to sound alarmist. Its engagement with the EU on the matter was always calm and well-reasoned. After all, everyone knows what happens when you cry “wolf” too often. The Maltese government kept in mind that immigration was also an issue in other EU countries.

We were criticised for being soft. We were criticised for keeping our dealings with the EU and other European countries discreet and level-headed rather doing a Chicken Licken and making a fuss that the sky was about to fall on our heads. The result? Hundreds left Malta as part of re-settlement agreements. Can Joseph Muscat match that without creating opprobrium amongst the international community, not to mention exposing Malta to legal action and claims for damages?

The National Interest

In the Parliamentary debate, Muscat accused the Opposition of not defending the national interest. We are parliamentarians of a Party that counts, among its former leaders, Nerik Mizzi who was arrested, interned and deported without due process, submitted to a dangerous sea journey and detained in a malaria-infested location. Then, as now, the Party defended the national interest in speaking out for the rule of law, good governance and – in our days – a sense of compassion that is genuine rather than conditional on election concerns. Once again, we stood up to be counted.

Muscat must change his ways

The way the Prime Minister’s tackled this sensitive issue has not only taken us nowhere; rather than leading to a solution, his behaviour has jeopardised the situation. He has brought on us the condemnation of the European Court of Justice and the European Union and the ire of NGOs. Even his former leader, the erstwhile leader of the European Socialists, Shultz, has emphasised the need for everybody to act legally. In brief, Dr Muscat has managed to turn an issue of irregular immigration where, if nothing else, we had earned the sympathy of other countries, to an issue of breaking international law and human rights. He did not manage the situation with the immigrants – who remain with us – but he has surely managed to tarnish Malta’s reputation and weaken its position.

Europe Must Listen

Nevertheless, Europe must listen and take heed of our woes. As PN Leader Simon Busuttil aptly put it, Europe must show solidarity not only with the immigrants but also with member states like Malta who are suffering due to this phenomenon. In our case, the burden is definitely not proportionate and it must be alleviated in some way or another. 

Clyde Puli is a Nationalist Party Member of Parliament