Malta to miss deadline on immigrant rights

A large number of EU member states, including Malta, do not appear too keen on giving new rights to long-term immigrants residing in their countries.

A new EU law that comes into effect on Monday has still to be legally adopted in 17 out of 22 member states which are bound to implement it.

Sources close to the European Commission told The Times that Malta is one of the countries which have not yet informed it about the transposition of this law.

"We have not yet heard what Malta is doing in this area. What we know is that Malta is obliged to implement this directive and if this is not done on time the Commission will have no other option but to start legal procedures against Malta."

Directive 2003/109/EC, enacted before Malta joined the EU, concerns the status of immigrants that have been living in an EU member state for more than five years.

In essence, the directive stipulates that long-term immigrants should be granted a set of uniform rights which are as near as possible to those enjoyed by citizens of the European Union.

These include reinforced protection against expulsion and the right to reside in another member state for employment and study purposes.

Under the new law, family members would also be able to settle in another member state together with a long-term resident in order to preserve family unity and to avoid hindering the exercise of the long-term residents' right of residence.

The directive also determines the conditions for the granting of such new rights. These include a period of continuous legal residence of five years and proof of adequate resources and sickness insurance. Individual member states may also require immigrants to comply with integration conditions, in accordance with national law.

According to the Commission, the new law is estimated to affect 10 million long-term immigrants currently residing in EU member states.

Commenting on this directive and the status of implementation on the part of member states, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said the directive is a cornerstone of the legal framework covering immigration and integration of third-country nationals.

Despite having two years chance to transpose this directive into national law the Commission said that until now only Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic have complied. Three other member states - Denmark, Ireland and the UK - are not bound by the provisions of this directive.

The Commission said that it regrets this delay in transposition and the legal uncertainty for third-country nationals resulting from it.