EU draws a blank from Malta over immigrant integration

Malta has failed to reply to a questionnaire sent by the European Commission asking for information on the integration of non-EU nationals in Maltese society.

The questions were sent to the local National Contact Point on Integration (NCPI), which according to the Commission falls under the remit of the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity.

The aim of the questionnaire was to gather specific information concerning various dimensions of the integration process in the EU member states for the calendar year 2005 and the first half of 2006.

Publishing its third annual report on migration and integration yesterday in Brussels, the Commission said that the report does not contain any information on the situation in Malta and Cyprus, as the two island-member states did not provide the information needed.

According to this report, in January 2006, the number of third-country nationals residing in the EU was 18.5 million, or 3.8 per cent of the total EU population of almost 493 million.

Immigration is still the main element in EU demographic growth and positive net migration is recorded in most member states. Net migration, ranging between 0.5 and one million per year for most of the 1990s, has increased to levels ranging between 1.5 and two million since 2002.

The report provides information about the establishment of the EU framework for the integration of third-country nationals up to June 2007.

This is not the first time that the EU has singled out Malta in matters related to the integration of immigrants. Last July, the Commission started three infringement procedures against Malta for not transposing into national law directives concerning the granting of rights to new EU citizens and more protection to immigrants and refugees.

Justice Minister Tonio Borg had told The Times that the transposition of all the three directives was in the pipeline and had already been approved by Cabinet. Parliament is currently in recess.