European Parliament to send delegation to Malta

The European Parliament will shortly be deciding when to send a delegation of MEPs to Malta in order to investigate the plight of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.

The delegation will evaluate the impact of immigration upon Malta and will also assess the way asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are being treated by the authorities.

The vice-president of the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament, Italian MEP Stefano Zappalà, told The Times that his committee has long been considering the possibility of sending a mission to Malta.

"The mission will be organised in a short time, next to the one we just held in Lampedusa. The actual dates are not yet decided, but we will do that shortly," he said.

Mr Zappalà said that committee is very concerned about the overall situation of immigration in Europe.

"The EU has not yet a common immigration policy and these kind of missions are the first step in order to draw the attention on the issue throughout Europe. This is especially important with regards to the Mediterranean where most of illegal immigration is taking place."

A few days ago, Nationalist MEP David Casa invited the committee to organise a visit to Malta in order to witness what is really happening on the ground and how this "crisis" is affecting the country.

A delegation of MEPs from the same committee this week returned "scandalised" from a similar visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa and a scathing report about the situation is to be presented to the European Parliament next week.

The delegation, composed of MEPs from all parliamentary groups, had been officially sent to Lampedusa to inspect the conditions in the centre where many asylum seekers and immigrants from Africa end up, and which has been at the centre of a polemic since Italy sent many such persons back to Libya.

French MEP Martine Roure, who chaired the delegation, denounced during a press conference in Brussels the "dramatic masquerade" that went on as nearly all refugees had been displaced from the centre by air-lift before the delegation arrived. She said there were only 11 asylum seekers present when the delegation reached Lampedusa, whereas there had sometimes been up to 1,000, she stressed.

"It was the first time during an inspection visit of a detention centre that the MEPs outnumbered the refugees," stressed Martine Roure.

Other members of the delegation protested against the fact that the Italian authorities had not given them access to the register of arrivals and expulsions to Libya or elsewhere.

Ms Roure said that from what was seen of the centre where there were only 12 toilets, without doors, and 18 washbasins, the MEPs consider that the conditions for hosting the refugees are "dramatic" and "violate human rights".

Next week, she will be presenting a report to the EP Committee on Citizens' Freedom and Rights in Strasbourg.