Malta insists on concrete measures

Malta yesterday reiterated its agreement with the French proposal for a European Pact on Immigration and Asylum but insisted that the pact has also to include stronger wording in order to introduce concrete solidarity measures including a new mechanism of burden sharing.

Speaking during an EU Justice Council meeting in Brussels, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici moved an amendment to the final text of the pact.

The amendment calls upon the EU to introduce a mechanism of burden sharing whereby EU member states commit themselves to share the burden of other member states facing difficulties in dealing with large influxes of illegal immigrants due to their small size and geographical position.

Sources close to the government told The Times that Malta's initiative already has the backing of a number of member states facing the same difficulties as Malta. The supporting member states include Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Portugal and France. Others are still undecided.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that Malta is cautiously optimistic that by the end of the discussions, which are expected to be concluded in October, its insistence will be accepted by all the EU member states.

"Our position on this issue has been clear and consistent all the way," Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

"We agree with the French presidency that there should be this pact and we are all for it. However, we also want that the pact will be reinforced so that small countries like us receive much needed solidarity. This has to be done through concrete initiatives and mechanisms by the EU and its member states and we will be doing our best in the next weeks to convince all the member states to agree to our initiative."

Last year, Malta had already made a burden-sharing proposal to the EU through which illegal immigrants rescued in third-countries' waters, like Libya, will be allocated to all the EU member states by strict proportionality. Though this proposal is still on the table, many member states did not show any particular enthusiasm for it.