Labour urges government to be firm on immigration

The Labour Party said yesterday that illegal immigration had become a "national crisis" and that unless European leaders agreed to help Malta through resources and better regulations, Malta should reject the proposed immigration pact.

In a joint statement, Labour leader Joseph Muscat and home affairs spokesman Michael Falzon said the Maltese government had to stand firm with EU leaders when they discuss the new immigration rules being proposed.

Despite assurances before the summer that measures would be taken for Malta not to continue shouldering more burdens, the number of immigrant arrivals this year increased by 30 per cent over last year.

The solution, they said, was not to ill-treat migrants or to let them drown but to solve the problem effectively, which required strong political will. Once what had been promised had not come about, the government needed to move from words to action by taking a firm stand in the EU institutions, they said.

In a reaction to the MLP statement, the government said it was working on the illegal immigration issue in all EU fora. The government will continue making Malta's case that the country could not continue shouldering the burden of illegal migration on its own and that Malta needed to be given assistance to deal with the situation.