EU reacts to Malta's call for action

The European Commission yesterday officially tabled its plan of action for the coming years to help countries like Malta deal with a sudden influx of illegal immigrants.

Publishing a new communication called Strengthened Practical Cooperation, to be discussed by EU Justice Ministers next week, the Commission proposed various concrete measures - including enabling member states which face a sudden immigration influx to access funds more rapidly - aimed at easing immigration pressure on Malta and other member states.

The proposals provide a two-fold approach suggesting assistance in both technical and financial areas.

The Commission made it clear that some of the measures being proposed were taken up following repeated calls for EU action by the Maltese government.

EU Justice and Home Affairs spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing told the Brussels press corps that Malta needs to be shown solidarity and that is why the Commission is proposing to create a special emergency fund.

"I don't think that it's a secret to say that we have learnt many lessons from the situations we have seen in Malta and Lampedusa during the past months which are happening because these places happen to be in a particular geographic location. I don't think that it's fair that these countries have to face all this on their own.

"Now we can't change their geographical position and we can't move Malta to the Netherlands but what we can do is ensure that Malta can, much more easily, access larger amounts of money."

One of the first initiatives to be taken in the coming weeks is in fact money-related.

The Commission is suggesting that by the end of June it will present a number of amendments to the current rules underpinning the European Refugee Fund and the Argo Programme - an action programme for administrative cooperation at EU level in the areas of asylum, visas, immigration and external borders - so that member states facing a sudden immigration influx can access the funds more rapidly.

In its communication the Commission states: "It should be possible to support emergency measures aimed at granting appropriate reception conditions, covering basic needs and applying fair and effective asylum procedures in other situations of arrivals of large numbers of persons seeking international protection which place significant and urgent demands on member states' reception facilities or asylum systems. With that in mind the Commission intends to propose amendments to the ERF to ensure that funds are set aside and can be accessed quickly by member states in certain situations".

On the technical side, the Commission is also proposing various measures. These include the provision of support for the rapid setting up of reception facilities, including emergency accommodation, transport facilities and medical assistance and similar support for the processing of asylum applications, through the rapid provision of interpretation services, case working and asylum expertise.

Apart from these short-term measures, the Commission's communication suggests what should be done in the long term including a study to have a real picture of the situation.

The Commission will be recommending the issuing of a call for tenders for a survey across all member states to provide an analysis of past and current situations where individual member state asylum services and reception capacities have faced particular pressures.

"This should provide information and analysis on whether the situations faced were caused by external phenomena, were due to factors in the member state concerned or were owing to systemic issues in the context of national legislation or the application of the Common European Asylum System."

The Commission is also proposing the setting up of a network comprising member states liaison officer/contacts in designated third countries who could report on regional conflict, trafficking activity and other issues helping member states plan better their response in this sector.

The Commission spokesman said that all these initiatives will now have to be supported by the member states before implementation. The Commission is aiming to reach political agreement on this communication by the end of next month.