The issue of migration should have never become a political football. But it has. Europe continues to brace for an unprecedented human tide that continues to rise and increase in numbers.
Last week, Maltese PM and Italian PM Joseph Muscat and Matteo Renzi met in Florence where they discussed, amongst other things, migration.
It must have been hard for both to resist saying “I told you so”. As always, we kick off from the premise that the important thing here is saving lives. Everything else comes second.
Germany yesterday announced that it expected some 800,000 asylum seekers by the end of 2015. Its Chancellor Angela Merkel has also requested that mandatory burden sharing programs are pressed into effect as soon as possible.
Austria has gone one further and said that if EU member states did not accept their quotas, then the should be penalised financially. What a sorry state of affairs we are in. As on end 2014, the two nations in the EU with the highest refugee acceptance rate per capita were Sweden and Malta. Germany – although it accepted thousands was still in 10th place.
For years, Malta and Italy have pushed for a mandatory burden sharing programme. No one was keen. Proof of this was the fact that the US and Switzerland accepted the highest number of resettlement cases. But now things have changed. The problem is no longer critical in the central Mediterranean, but has shifted to the East to the borders of where European civilization ends and Muslim lands begin.
The tidal wave from Syria shows no sign of abating. Malta, in the past, was accused of “stamping its feet” and threatening one thing or another. My, how the tune has changed since. Malta’s proposals for burden sharing were never taken seriously. But now, with the problem hitting central and Eastern Europe, the call is louder than ever before.
This is where Europe needs to get off its high horse. Successive governments, under Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat said it was the only fair way. Malta was always given a ‘sympathetic ear’ but we were told to get on with it. Now that the tables have turned, it is those same countries that vehemently opposed the proposals that are now pushing it forward. Should we crow and smugly smile? No. We should not. We need to take a few lessons in all of this. First of all, nationalism and backyard syndrome is still very much alive and well. The second is that we have the right to sound our voice and we are right and we have every right to be heard and taken seriously by other EU members. And the third lesson is the most important one. Unless Europe acts as a whole, death will continue. The EU is unrecognisable now from the boom years. Our unique experiment with democracy entails total unanimity in decision making. It is clear that this is hampering our ability to act. Which way do we go? Do we divulge more powers to the EP, giving rise to the possibility of block voting? Or do we hope that our leaders can get their act together and hammer out common policies that are sorely needed. Will the migration crisis push the EU down the Federalist path? Time will tell.