Editorial

In just a few weeks' time, the flow of illegal immigrants from North Africa, notably Libya, through the central Mediterranean, which has been temporarily stemmed by the uncertain and hostile winter weather conditions, will start again. For the seventh year in a row Malta will find itself having to cope with the inadvertent, and unwelcome, arrival of hundreds of illegal immigrants trying desperately to make a new life for themselves in Europe. There have been almost 9,000 arrivals since March 2002, mostly from the African continent. About 3,000 of these are thought to be living in the Maltese community, mostly in open accommodation centres, while about 1,200 are still in detention. Others have been repatriated, or have simply "disappeared", probably somehow finding their own way to other countries.

With the growing challenge of something like 4,000 or 5,000 immigrants having to be integrated into Maltese society, the future prospects are indeed serious. Malta has long placed considerable store on the magic wand of EU burden-sharing on immigration to see it through the difficult times ahead. But, as could be seen on a number of occasions, EU delivery on this issue has fallen far short of its good intentions.

The reality is that illegal immigration confronts each country with its own different set of social pressures and economic priorities that do not lend themselves easily to common resolution. While Malta has, quite rightly, been pressing for an equitable sharing of the migrant numbers with all countries in the EU and the scrapping or amendment of the iniquitous Dublin 2 Convention - that works against a country like Malta lying as it does in the frontline of illegal immigration from Africa and with no hinterland within which immigrants can be absorbed - there have been few areas of policy that have lent themselves to a truly common approach.

One area around which a common EU policy position appears to be coalescing is that of external border protection. This is why European Commissioner Franco Frattini's announcement of the setting up of a number of bases by Frontex, the European external border agency, around Europe - in addition to the headquarters established in Poland - is important. One of the locations proposed will be in Malta, a recognition, if one were needed, of its crucial role as one of the southern gateways - the other is Sicily - into Europe through the central Mediterranean.

The establishment of a Frontex base in Malta will have a number of advantages. Although the operational details are not fully clear, it is thought that, on geographical grounds alone, the establishment of a forward operating base here - just over 200 miles from Libya, the main source of illegal immigrants in the central Mediterranean - will be both logistically and operationally beneficial. If, as one sincerely hopes, the prospect of joint maritime patrols between Italy and Libya, close to, or inside, Libyan territorial waters is fully realised, the efficiency and effectiveness of Frontex patrols throughout the central Mediterranean will be greatly enhanced. The powers-that-be may produce data to flag the "effectiveness" of such patrols but, on the ground, the inflow of desperate people in search of a better life persists.

Command and control of the EU naval and air assets allocated to the maritime surveillance task will benefit from the establishment of a permanently-manned and properly-equipped forward headquarters in Malta. Moreover, the signal that the permanent Frontex deployment will send to those criminal gangs conducting illegal human trafficking out of Libya should be a more potent one.

This initiative will be positive for Malta in other ways. The readiness to host Frontex will demonstrate the island's commitment to playing a full part with other EU countries in strengthening external border controls. It will also give the country a greater voice when the vexed issue of a European immigration and asylum pact comes up for discussion over the next few months.