Ivan Camilleri, Brussels
Transfer of migrants on EU agenda
France to take 80 immigrants
Immigration rules could change to allow frontier states struggling with migration flows to transfer immigrants to other member states if a European Commission proposal to be made today is taken on board.
The news emerges as French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux announced that France will be taking 80 immigrants from Malta next year.
If approved by all 27 member states, the Commission proposal would mark a breakthrough for Malta, even if the changes planned include some additional burdens.
A draft document, seen by The Times yesterday, shows that the Commission will be proposing a total revision of the rules related to asylum seekers, known as the Dublin II regulation.
It is being suggested that member states like Malta, that are evidently overburdened with asylum claims, will be temporarily exempt from the rules.
This will mean that, in case of a large influx of illegal immigrants, Malta will not have to deal with processing all the asylum applications and the applicant immigrants will be passed on to other EU countries.
So far, it was not clear how this system will work in practice, however, the Commisison should be proposing a proper mechanism as part of its asylum package.
According to the present Dublin II rules, asylum applications have to be dealt with by the member state where the asylum seekers arrive first.
This rule is placing a heavy burden on Malta, which, due to its geographical position, is having to process a large number of asylum applications and, consequently, having to detain thousands of illegal immigrants every year.
The government has been piling pressure on the EU to introduce changes to the asylum rules for the past four years.
Apart from burden sharing, the proposal will grant more rights to asylum seekers. According to the draft, Brussels will be proposing establishing common EU rules on detention of would-be refugees, making it easier for them to work while their applications are being processed.
The proposals recommend that asylum seekers should not have to wait longer than six months after submitting an asylum application before being allowed to work.
The Commission's proposals include extending EU rules on the treatment of asylum seekers to not only cover people seeking refugee status but also those seeking subsidiary protection on humanitarian cases, which affects the majority of asylum seekers in Malta.
Under Maltese rules, asylum seekers are granted the right to work after a maximum of 18 months from when they apply for asylum status.
All the proposals will require the uananimous backing of every member state to enter into force. EU sources described the proposed asylum package as "ambitious" as it would not be easy to persuade all 27 member states to accept the changes.
Immigration was on Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil's agenda during the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee yesterday when he harshly criticised the lack of solidarity from the EU.
In reply, Mr Hortefeux announced France will be taking 80 immigrants from Malta next year.
The committee was debating the French presidency results in the area of immigration during the second half of this year.
Referring to the Migration and Asylum Pact, agreed upon last October, Dr Busuttil pressed Mr Hortefeux on when and how he envisaged the implementation of the burden-sharing clause, inserted in the pact, would facilitate the movement of refugees from countries facing a disproportionate migratory pressure to other EU member states.
"I find it an intolerable ambiguity to see the US taking about 400 immigrants from Malta and not one single EU country following this example of solidarity," he told Mr Hortefeux in fluent French.
Turning to cooperation with third countries, Dr Busuttil said that, so far, this only seemed to exist on a bilateral basis, noting that Spain had established a very effective network with Senegal. On the other hand, he said no cooperation on immigration existed with Libya.
Mr Hortefeux said he was well aware of Malta's concerns and had raised the matter directly with the Libyan Foreign Affairs Minister last week during the Euro-African conference on migration and development.
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d. borg
Dec 4th 2008, 08:46
@Mark Aloisio
These immigrants entered our (Maltese) country illegally and so, no, they have no right to roam our streets, "going to work, socializing or enjoying the weather"!!
Eric Soames
Dec 3rd 2008, 19:31
I Galea: There was also a corresponding responsibility to pick up and make something positive out of circumstance. Them's the breaks. As the Eagles sang; Get Over It.
Mark Aloisio
Dec 3rd 2008, 19:12
The suggestion that "prejudice is in the eye of the beholder" is illogical.
Joe Vella
Dec 3rd 2008, 18:39
@ l Galea
You mean to tell me that you do not know what Joseph Muscat voted for on behalf of the PL when he met his comrades in arms in Spain over the weekend.
Mark Aloisio
Dec 3rd 2008, 18:38
The argument that illegal immigrants = increased availability of illegal drugs is both illogical and factually wrong. In their next comment someone will argue that Malta never had a serious drug problem before illegal immigrants began showing up.
lgalea
Dec 3rd 2008, 17:57
Joe Vella
You keep repeating the same thing in all the postings.
Can you tell us where you got the information?
Joseph Zarb, David Battistino,
By not allowing them to land in the first place. Then keep them in detention until they give the necessary information and are repatriated. While still at sea tow their boats back to just outside Libyan territorial waters and leave them just enough fuel to reach the Libyan shores. Extraordinary circumstances need extraordinary measures. And 80 out of the thousands are nothing.
Eric Soames
Their ex-colonial masters are shirking their responsibility towards the illegal immigrants because they stole their natural resources. What is wrong with bringing this to the notice of everyone?
Mark Aloisio
you read the papers about how many of them have been caught trafficking drugs?
Have you seen how many Maltese workers were kicked out and ILLEGAL immigrants employed instead with much lower wages and working conditions?
Raymond Sammut
Dec 3rd 2008, 17:28
@ Mark Aloisio
Touched a soft chord, Mr Aloiso.
"some animal looking for prey" are your choice of words. Prejudice is in the mind of the beholder.
There is nothing wrong with roaming the streets (I do it all the time), so long as they are the streets of your country, or of a country you are visiting, and not a country to which you had been trafficked by criminal syndicates.
M. Mercieca
Dec 3rd 2008, 17:05
@ Mark Aloisio
………… and above all, How on earth can any body get to know the LEGAL STATUS of some one walking in the street??????.
Joe Vella
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:56
What is even more interesting is that Joseph Muscat and the PL are in favour of illegal immigrants as long as they are men above a certain age.
Eric Soames
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:42
A terrible solution that must be blocked. Flood the politicians' mail boxes and e-mail with protest. The only transfer considered should be back to where they came from.
I Galea; Harping on what may or may not be the results of colonialism is neither productive nor relevant and distracts from the present problem.
David Bailey
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:40
These rule changes will have no effect on the number of illegal immigrants that will try to reach the EU and end up here. Actually, reducing detention periods and loosening the rules on job applications will invite even more of them to attempt the journey. While in some EU countries they may need immigrant workers, we don't, apart from the few business-owners who would love the opportunity to employ workers for cheap rates.
So let's cut the bull and stop salivating at the the tidbits thrown at us by the large EU countries, and demand something more concrete.. such as a forced burden sharing system based on quotas and resource availability and a tough stance on Libya for its obvious disregard to the situation.
Mark Aloisio
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:40
The choice of words used by some people betrays their prejudice and in the process undermines the very cause that they try to defend. Immigrants (whether illegal or not) do not "roam the streets" as if they were some animal looking for prey. Whenever I see African immigrants in the streets of Malta they are pretty much doing the same things as most people anywhere in the world: going to work, socializing, enjoying the weather etc...
Michelle Dali
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:38
While I commend Dr Simon Busuttil for his efforts in negotiating with the EU to deal with illegal immigration, one can see that France offering to take 80 illegal immigrants next year is just a token offering to SEEM to be offering solidarity. It will not make any difference to Malta's situation, especially since we have thousands roaming the streets, and thousands more expected to arrive next year.
It is wrong that the detention period is decreased - this will only encourage illegal immigrants to be uncooperative with the authorities so that they cannot be repatriated, knowing they will soon have to be released.
Let us hope that the revision of the Dublin 11 regulation will at least go in Malta's favour, meaning that once we have taken in an agreed number of illegal immigrants proportionate to Malta's size, any future boatloads found in our SAR will be sent on to land in another EU country to have their asylum applications processed there. The EU must acknowledge that Malta is already overpopulated and being such a small country, land is scarce.
M. Mercieca
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:11
We are lucky to have peoples like Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Minister Tonio Borg, and Dr.Simon Busuttil and of course Dr. Gonzi. The whole team working hard to solve sensitive issues with prudence.
Dr.Simon Busuttil is perfectly handling the thorniest issue in the OLD CONTINENT (Europe). Immigrants are an inescapable headache to all governments, this of course including African governments.
A concrete and human solution MUST start from any where. Well done Simon.
David Seychell
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:08
If your boat is sinking, you don't start throwing water out of the boat just to make space for more water to flow into. You need to start by sealing the hole and THEN you start throwing water out of your boat, otherwise, you're just delaying your inevitable fate.
Raymond Sammut
Dec 3rd 2008, 16:05
@ louise vella
Very true.
These developments are very worrying, and it's all being done hush hush during the winter. When summer arrives, all that the Maltese people will see is more and more illegals roaming the street, and working here and there. It all creeps in very slowly.
louise vella
Dec 3rd 2008, 14:59
This is very bad news for Malta.
Commission proposal aims “to improve protection for asylum seekers”. All illegal immigrants arriving in Malta apply for asylum. If implemented the proposal would be another pull factor for illegal immigrants - before the EU has introduced proper mechanisms to protect our borders.
Commission is pushing the principle that no one should be detained after applying for asylum. Meaning? We would have to abolish our detention policy which is a deterrent to illegal immigrants.
Worst of all, it wants to give asylum seekers (meaning ALL illegal immigrants in Malta) access to the labour market only SIX MONTHS after they apply for asylum, as well as assurances that Malta would not introduce barriers to their employment.
This proposal would increase the numbers of illegal immigrants roaming our streets and give them the right to compete with Maltese workers for jobs, pushing down wages and conditions of work of Maltese workers.
The bait? 80 illegal immigrants France will take next year, out of thousands that may arrive.
The EU has understood that Mifsud Bonnici cannot resist pressure. Since becoming minister he has been retreating all the way, step by step.
A Mangion
Dec 3rd 2008, 14:22
This is the answer to Joseph Muscat who did not want the Maltese government to sign the immigration pact. France gonna help us out in real terms now. Hopefully other will follow. This is the result of political lobbying from Minister Tonio Borg and MEP Simon Busuttil. We need politicians who walk their talk and not dream their talk. Thanks for your important work and lobbying even if its not in the public eye. Political lobbying has never been as successful as these days. Keep it up!!
Raymond Sammut
Dec 3rd 2008, 13:35
@ Joseph Zarb
Immigrants who have no documentation, passports or papers whatsoever are illegal immigrants for those very reasons. Illegal immigrants need to be detained until they accept to cooperate with the Maltese authorities who have the means to obtain these documents on their behalf. There appears to be no indication as to whether this is being done.
And what France is taking, is taking for the wrong reasons. It is highly unlikely that Malta will not have 80 arrivals in no time once il-bard ta' Jannar is over.
M. Tabone
Dec 3rd 2008, 13:05
So about 80 France, perhaps 100 Germany, 50 Spain, 50 Italy and the rest MSs 100 = approx 400!!!! What about the others in thousands and the more to come. ... European Solidarity at its best!!!!
Can somebody tell me how much our country is paying to hosts these illegal immigrants/year (what I mean, all the direct and all indirect aid involved), or by how much they are negatively affecting our GDP, so that we can compare ourselves with other Member States?
Joseph Zarb
Dec 3rd 2008, 12:34
@lgalea
The fact that France is taking up illegal immigrants from Malta is exactly your wish that they "be passed on their ex-colonial masters". So I cannot understand what your hasty criticism of this PN initiative is all about.
Moreover I would appreciate your wisdom as to how we should go about repatriating immigrants who have no documentation, passports or papers whatsoever.
Joanne Micallef
Dec 3rd 2008, 11:32
I agree with what Mr Sandro Pace wrote, I hope that our minister will not sign anything unless he first has something concrete in hand that will benefit our country by lessening the huge burden we are having to shoulder.
David Battistino
Dec 3rd 2008, 10:50
@ Mr I Galea.
My seven year old daughter acts like that ‘I don’t want this and that’. When it comes to EU funds everyone tries to reach out and even criticises (as it should be) when such funds are not tapped well. When it comes to pay the price for something, we don’t want this or that. I am eager to know how you would work it out - No to ‘burden sharing’ and at the same time ‘all ILLEGAL immigrants either repatriated or passed on to their ex-colonial masters’.
In the meantime I am glad that we have Dr Busuttil speaking on our behalf where it matters most and offering real tangible solutions not just for Malta but for the whole European Union. Well done Simon.
John Portelli
Dec 3rd 2008, 10:48
Burden sharing is NOT a solution,it will only make the problem bigger
James Dimech
Dec 3rd 2008, 09:25
Well congratulations to Simon Busuttil and the Minister for juggling this through as we are finally seeing an inch of progress
Sandro Pace
Dec 3rd 2008, 09:16
France accepting migrants from Malta? It is surely the first time. One hopes that this is not a bait to make our minister sign the proposed long-term residency rights for refugees, a French presidency thing.
Malta shall accept nothing unless it obtains systematic, future proof and significant solutions. Malta should also insist that the 'widening of rights' to refugees, shall include also freedom of movement within the block. Nothing less. Otherwise, it is ridiculous if we are to accept imposition of rights and laxing detention. So far,we have been reduced to a begging State. Also, our country should insist on EU weight to make African countries accept failed asylum seekers.
Malta is and will ever have to be, a transit place.
lgalea
Dec 3rd 2008, 09:11
We don't want burden sharing.
We want all ILLEGAL immigrants either repatriated or passed on to their ex-colonial masters.
They stole their natural resources and now THEY should lump them.