Government rejects MLP's call to veto EU migration pact

The government yesterday rejected a plea by Labour leader Joseph Muscat for Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi not to sign the EU Immigration Pact.

The pact, agreed by EU justice ministers last week, accepted Malta's insistence to include burden-sharing as part and parcel of the new pact and reached a final agreement that now, technically, only needed the European Council's endorsement next month.

Speaking in Żebbuġ yesterday, Dr Muscat said it was a pity that the government had given up when it could have obtained a more concrete result for Malta - at a time of a national crisis - even when Dr Gonzi knew he had the full support of the Labour Party on this.

He criticised the pact from two aspects: First, the system mentioned in the pact was voluntary and did not oblige EU countries to participate. Secondly, the system would only apply to people who had been accepted as refugees. The majority of illegal immigrants landing in Malta were not considered refugees and, as a result, were excluded from the pact.

Over the past weeks, Malta had been insisting on the need to include a commitment towards burden sharing with its counterparts, which at first resisted the idea but later lifted their objections.

Dr Muscat said Malta could have been firmer with EU member states and, had the MLP been in government, it would not have agreed to this pact. The government was weak and had surrendered to such an agreement.

He called on Dr Gonzi not to sign the pact, saying the MLP would be "four square" behind the government but warned that Dr Gonzi should not expect any favours from Labour if he forged ahead and signed it. In a quick reply, the government rejected this appeal, saying the Labour leader wanted to dump an agreement that would benefit Malta.

While Dr Muscat was taking a position against the Immigration Pact, he had not proposed any alternative. Up to some time ago, EU member states tackled illegal immigration individually but now the pact meant assistance for Malta.

The burden-sharing mechanism would apply to all migrants who enjoyed some sort of international protection - as was the case for most of the migrants who came to Malta. The rest would be repatriated to their country of origin, the government said.

Dr Muscat also spoke about a recruitment drive being launched by Labour in the coming days to increase the number of party members. He said it was unacceptable that a party like Labour only had 19,000 members.

He reiterated his gratitude to Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri who will be resigning from Parliament tonight, enabling Dr Muscat's co-option to the House.

Dr Muscat said he would be in the House to listen to Mr Cuschieri's farewell speech. He said Labourites should never forget what Mr Cuschieri had done for the party.

Dr Muscat referred to investigations into the hacking of gov.mt e-mail accounts, saying all those who had their account hacked should be given all the information possible.

He also spoke about water and electricity bills and the added burden families had to carry.