French PM calls for common EU rules on migration

French Prime Minister François Fillon underscored the need for common EU rules on immigration following talks at Castille this evening with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

The French PM was in Malta for a few hours as part of a tour of EU capitals ahead of the French presidency of the EU, which starts in July.

The talks focussed on French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union initiative, migration and climate change, issues which M. Fillon said will be high on the presidency’s agenda.

M. Fillon said the EU urgently needed agreement on common rules on immigration to end the current situation where borders were coming down but different countries had different rules on migration.

France, he said, agreed on the need for more effective measures for the repatriation of migrants and was willing to share part of the burden of the migration problem, within the context of wider EU agreement.

Dr Gonzi said Malta strongly backed initiatives such as the proposed Mediterranean Union, which aimed to bring about greater regional stability and growth.

As for migration, Malta expected the EU to translate the value of solidarity into concrete action on the repatriation of migrants, and burden sharing when migrants could not be repatriated.

M. Fillon said France had welcomed migration as long as the migrants could be integrated into society. Clearly such flows had to be regulated and no country could take limitless numbers.