Malta invites Italy and Libya for talks

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg has invited his Italian and Libyan counterparts for talks on the immigration crisis, accentuated by the drama involving 51 illegal immigrants on a Spanish trawler off Malta.

Dr Borg said, when contacted, he had extended an invitation to the Italian government on his recent visit to Italy and also an invitation to the Libyan government a few days later. Italy has accepted, while Libya still has to reply.

"I think it would be useful if we met more frequently and in between meetings especially given the situation."

During the regular mid-day briefing in Brussels yesterday, Libya emerged clearly as being the important missing link in a wide regional cooperation initiative needed to deal with illegal immigration.

The much anticipated EU-financed border patrols in the Mediterranean, if given the go ahead by EU ministers on Monday, are likely to take place without Libya's involvement.

The Libyan government had still not replied by yesterday to an EU request for the patrol mission to be able to cover Libyan waters. Libyan diplomats have repeatedly complained that the country found it next to impossible to patrol its massive 2,000 kilometre coast by itself.

The union's border control agency, Frontex, is facing similar problems with Senegal and Mauritania with regard to the patrolling mission in the Spanish Canary Islands. A Commission source told The Times "the issues with Libya run deeper".