France offers Malta transitional period

Malta has been offered a transitional period on the EU proposal to grant refugees permanent rights, after the island threw out of sync the French Presidency's plans to steer an agreement among member states.

"Following Malta's objections, the French Presidency approached the Maltese authorities to find some kind of solution. Malta was offered a transitional period over this directive - it has not yet come back with an answer," EU sources said.

The offer is aimed at solving the impasse created during last week's Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Brussels over the proposal to grant permanent residence rights to long-term refugees.

Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici opposed the proposal forcing the Presidency to postpone the approval of this new directive.

EU sources told The Times the French Presidency was still trying to reach a deal among all 27 member states by the end of its Presidency, which runs till the end of the year.

Despite this move by the French Presidency, it is not all certain that Malta will accept this offer.

"The government confirms there were some moves but it is still too early to say whether we will be accepting a compromise offer made by the Presidency," a senior government official, who stopped short of divulging the content of the French proposal, said when contacted.

A transitional period will mean Malta will only be exempt from the new directive for a limited number of years. Originally, the island had said it would only vote in favour if the new long-term residency rights to refugees only applied to migrants entering an EU territory legally, and if the directive was implemented by member states on a voluntary basis.

Tabled by the Commission last year, the proposals introduce an amendment to the EU's Long-Term Residence Directive, entitling refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection (humanitarian status) to long-term residence permits after five years living in an EU member state. This would entitle refugees to the same rights as EU citizens in a wide range of social and economic matters. For Malta this would translate into issuing permits to 2,300 refugees already on the island.

If an agreement is not reached before the year is out the dossier will have to be tackled by the Czech Presidency.