Malta facing uphill battle

Malta continues to face an uphill struggle in its efforts to push the EU to agree on a new intra-EU voluntary burden-sharing mechanism aimed at helping small member states deal with massive influxes of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.

At a meeting of EU Permanent Representatives on a new EU migration pact, Malta's Ambassador to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana last week made it clear Malta would not accept a final deal unless a commitment towards burden sharing is included in the final text.

The issue is expected to be discussed during a meeting of EU justice ministers in Brussels tomorrow during which the French Presidency is seeking to reach a final deal.

However, Council sources told The Times yesterday that Malta's proposal is not yet agreed upon as some member states are still resisting a reference to a burden-sharing mechanism.

A series of meetings to be held in Brussels today are deemed to be crucial prior to the Council meeting.

Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici is today expected to hold a one-on-one meeting with EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot at the Commission's headquarters while Coreper, the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives, will be meeting for a marathon session in order to thrash out the remaining stumbling blocks, Malta's in particular.

The Council sources said that, although Malta's proposal is being looked upon in a positive light by the European Commission, bearing in mind that the island is carrying much more than its weight, certain member states continue to argue that the mechanism proposed by Malta, although on a voluntary basis, might still act as a pull factor to incentivise more illegal immigrants to try to reach Europe.

Malta has for years been putting pressure on the EU to launch a mechanism of burden sharing in its migration policies. However, so far no concrete measures have been implemented.

Malta is proposing that a commitment towards the creation by the EU of a new burden-sharing mechanism should be included in the EU's migration pact, which will set the agenda for the next 10 years.

The proposal is that this mechanism will only be on a voluntary basis giving an option to resisting member states to choose whether or not to participate in future EU asylum resettlement programmes. The pact needs the approval of all 27 member states.