Frattini stands up for Malta

European Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has defended Malta's record in the EU's fight against illegal immigration and rejected demands by various MEPs to condemn Malta's behaviour.

Mr Frattini stood up for Malta in a series of replies given to parliamentary questions submitted by MEPs in the aftermath of a series of incidents in the Mediterranean last May involving illegal immigrants.

In their questions, MEPs also asked the Commission to condemn Malta's behaviour which according to one Spanish MEP, Willy Meyer Pleite, "is causing us (the EU) embarrassment".

Mr Frattini told Mr Meyer Pleite it was not true that Malta refused to accept 26 migrants who had been rescued from a half-shipwrecked vessel by the Spanish tug Montfalco, as claimed in the MEP's question.

He also denied similar charges that the Maltese authorities refused to accept 27 sub-Saharan Africans who had survived for three days clinging to a tuna fishing pen.

"As the honourable member is probably aware by now, the incident referred to in the question took place within the Search and Rescue Region (SAR) of a third-country (Libya) and not within the SAR of a member state (Malta)," Mr Frattini said.

In another reply, this time to Italian MEP Cristiana Muscardini, Mr Frattini also denied the allegation she made that Malta had refused a French warship permission to disembark the bodies of 21 illegal immigrants recovered off the Maltese coast.

According to Mr Frattini, "the Maltese authorities fully cooperated with the French authorities making it clear that Malta was ready to accept the corpses even if the third country in question (Libya) would not cooperate in that respect. This was the basis of a communication between Malta's Minister of Foreign Affairs and the French Ambassador in Valletta," Mr Frattini said.

Mr Frattini also stated that the corpses were not recovered "off the Maltese coast" but from within the Libyan SAR region.

Similar replies were given to other questions criticising Malta by British MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk and German MEP Andreas Schwab.

In a general observation of the current problems being faced by the EU southern member states on the influx of illegal immigrants, Mr Frattini told MEPs that the current situation on the EU's southern maritime borders was being discussed by the European Council on the basis of certain burden-sharing proposals made by Malta in response to those recent incidents.

"This is a very serious problem and we have to address it seriously", the Commissioner stressed.