Malta is opposing plans by the European Commission to harmonise the asylum and refugee systems implemented by individual EU member states.
A government document sent to the Commission as part of a consultation process launced by Brussels last June indicates that Malta does not want any further enhancement of rules and would instead prefer a higher degree of burden sharing by the Commission and the other EU states.
Malta has often publicly complained about the lack of concrete help being given by the EU and, particularly, by member states to help deal with the immigration problem.
Last June, the European Commission unveiled a comprehensive package on asylum including a Green Paper launching a debate on a future Common European Asylum System, a proposal for a directive that extends the possibility of obtaining long-term residence status to beneficiaries of international protection and an evaluation report on the Dublin II system.
In its response, Malta clearly indicated it would prefer the issue to be adressed holistically and that any harmonisation of procedures would be "accompanied by the setting up of a system catering for the introduction of sound measures to effectively ensure fair and balanced resoponsibility sharing".
Sources close to the government told The Times yesterday that although Malta is not in principle opposed to a better European asylum system and the granting of more rights to asylum seekers one has also to keep in mind the circumstances of every country.
"It is very easy to say that you need to ensure more rights when you are not facing a serious immigration problem as we are," the sources said bluntly.
This straight talk was also put in writing in response to questions by the Commisison to sound member states on its proposals. Malta took an arms-length approach on the proposals.
Malta believes that access to the asylum procedure is generally satisfactory and that the level of regulation is adequete.
"The establishment of the common asylum procedures would imply the setting up of more clearly-defined and, possibly, higher standards which, although desirable in principle, could prove problematic to implement for those member states experiencing huge influxes of immigrants in proportion to their limited resources," the government said.
As to whether there should be harmonisation on the conditions of reception centres in the EU, Malta said it does not agree as this is very difficult to achieve owing to the fact that certain member states experience prolonged periods of high migratory pressures. "Maintaining a defined set of standards at all times may prove extremely difficult as the available resources woule be stretched to the limit. Such harminsation is, therefore, not considered feasible in the current context."
Malta also told Brussels there should be no further changes on grounds for detention.
"Malta believes that the length and conditions of detention, subject to the protection of human rights, should be determined by the individual member staes in line with their policies and legislation," the government insisted.
On the other hand, Malta's dossier contained sugestions on what the EU and its member states can change to help, particularly a revision to the so-called Dublin II convention which determines which member state should be responsible for asylum applications.
Malta said that, as attested by the recent events in the Mediterranean, there is a need for a fair burden-sharing system to be inserted in the convention.