One of the major problems facing the Labour Government since taking office last March has been the regular flow of irregular immigrants reaching ourshores.  According to the data included in the revised European Refugee Fund Annual Programme which was approved by the European Commission, Malta received 1294 irregular immigrants till the end  of July 2013.

This explains why Malta has been calling for more support and solidarity from its European partners in the face of this huge problem. In the absence of a compulsory burden sharing, the least we expect is a fair sharing of responsibility. For months Malta has been taking a firm stand to convince the European Union that we cannot be left on our own to deal with the pressures caused by migration. Prime Minister Dr. Joseph Muscat has been spearheading these efforts both in Malta but especially on the European level.

Conscious that other Mediterranean countries, including Greece and Italy among others, are facing similar problems Malta together with other nine Member States proposed the setting up of a Mediterranean Task Force to come up with an integrated approach to the problem for the whole Mediterranean area. Last October the Task Force was set up with a clear mandate namely to prevent loss of life at sea guided by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility.

Malta had long been calling for action for the prevention of more loss of life at sea.  Matters came to a head last October following the tragedy near Lampedusa when many boat people lost their lives.  Unfortunately it had to be the Lampedusa tragedy to move the powers that be to start taking action.

In fact, at the last European Council held earlier this month, EU Member States have agreed on a number of operational actions in order to reduce the risk of further tragedies similar to what happened off the coast  of Lampedusa.

This agreement is the result of efforts by Malta and other Mediterranean Member States who are also experiencing irregular migration pressures.  In order to belittle Malta’s efforts in this regard, the Nationalist Opposition said that nothing concrete came out of this Council meeting and no timeframes for the implementation of Malta’s proposals have been agreed upon. But contrary to what the Nationalist Opposition has been saying there is a firm commitment on the part of the European Union to the extent that it has mandated the European Commission to establish timeframes for the implementation of the operational steps proposed by the Mediterranean Task Force.  As Prime Minister Dr. Joseph Muscat told the media, Malta is pleased with these developments but not euphoric.

Intentionally or not, Malta has long been one of the main transiting points for unauthorized migrants seeking a better way of life in Europe.  Few of them saw Malta as their ultimate destination in the European Union but many found themselves stranded on the island awaiting the first opportunity to reach the European continent. But in the meantime Malta has been shouldering its responsibilities under international law looking after their needs and welfare.  

We are doing this among others, through the allocation of EU financial resources from the various migration funds available to Malta. Moreover, through our Permanent Representation in Brussels together with the Funds and Programmes Division of my Secretariat, we have intensified our efforts to seek more financial resources to support more actions to address all aspects of migration including asylum, legal migration, integration and the return of irregularly staying non-EU nationals.

As a consequence of the emergency situation we are facing and the exceptional and urgent demands being placed on the accommodation facilities for migrants, and following representations to this effect, earlier this month the European Commission approved an additional €1.7 million in emergency measures under the European Refugee Fund for 2013. This means that in total, since August of this year, we have managed to obtain from the EU €3.7 million to be used for emergency measures including the purchase of more mobile homes at the open centres in order to provide better temporary accommodation for these immigrants, for the provision of transport facilities for those living in the centres as well as for renovation works to create a better living conditions in these centres.

Also, following the Maltese Government strong insistence that increased funding was required given Malta’s specific situation, the Council of the European Union agreed to allocate Malta an additional €10 million within the Internal Security Fund for Borders and Visas for the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework of the EU. This constitutes a 23% increase over the original allocation proposed by the Commission and means that Malta will now benefit from over €53 million under this particular fund.

More recently, upon the insistence of Malta’s Permanent Representation to Brussels on the need for additional funds, an extra €5 million were allocated to Malta under the Asylum and Migration Fund.  With these additional resources, Malta’s allocation under this fund will be over €17 million.

All these financial resources being made available under the various EU migration funds will be channelled towards the implementation of an effective strategy in support of the thousands of migrants, illegal or otherwise, who are currently being looked after on the Island.

Dr. Ian Borg is the Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds.