Malta's stand on illegal migration

Malta's Permanent Representative to the European Union, Richard Cachia Caruana hit the nail on the head when he wrote to all EU permanent representatives and to the European Commission saying that while Malta has been targeted for criticism following incidents involving illegal immigrants, not one single voice has called for obligations to be honoured by "the country which was internationally bound to co-ordinate search and rescue operations in the two incidents as well as to receive the rescued individuals".

That country is, of course, Libya. Furthermore, Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato is quoted as saying: "If Libya does not participate (in Frontex), the patrol will have little or no effect. The participation of Tripoli will make sure no boats leave Libyan ports."

Fat chance, I say. It has been made amply clear by their actions that Libya doesn't care about the illegal immigrants as demonstrated by their inaction recently. I suspect that Libya is making it easy for these boats to leave. By letting them go, Libya is shedding thousands of surplus mouths to feed while conducting a subtle invasion of Europe.

There are two solutions to this problem. One is to prevent the immigrants from leaving Libya's shores. The other is for Malta to strike oil, adding some clout to our just arguments!