The EU has abandoned plans, at least for now, to introduce new legislation granting more rights to refugees because Malta refused to lift its objections to such a move.
EU Council sources said Malta continued to maintain its original stand in refusing to accept the proposed "additional obligations".
Despite various attempts by the outgoing French Presidency, that continued until the very last days of its term at the end of 2008, Malta just would not budge, leaving the EU with no option but to abandoned the plans.
"We needed unanimity to have this new legislation passed and Malta's objections made this impossible. The only option at this stage is to put this dossier in the freeze at least until the new Lisbon Treaty comes into force," the sources said.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, which has still to be ratified by Ireland and the Czech Republic, the issue could be decided by qualified majority. Under the present treaty rules, unanimity is necessary to adopt such legislation.
EU governments are hoping that the treaty, which was initially planned to enter into force by the beginning of this year but met ratification troubles in Ireland, will be in force at the beginning of 2010.
EU sources said that despite various attempts by the French Presidency at the eleventh hour, the other member states failed to convince Malta that the EU's directive for long-term residency should be extended to cover refugees and people granted subsidiary protection - "humanitarian status" - normally given to people who are at risk but who do not qualify as refugees. Most of the refugees and illegal immigrants arriving in Malta are in fact given this type of recognition.
The directive proposed by the EU grants third-country nationals rights which include the same access to employment as EU citizens and the right to move to different member states for work purposes. Currently, such rights are only granted to legal economic migrants who have lived in the EU for five years.
Malta has been objecting to this proposal for a long time, insisting that, due to its small size and geographical position, it is already being overburdened with the migration problem.
In a letter sent to the French Presidency in November, the Maltese government explained that it has faced an influx of asylum-seekers over the last three years and that it could not accept the "additional obligations" that the extension of the directive would bring about.
Malta had proposed amendments but these were opposed by the other member states. These included prolonging the deadline to apply the rules until 2018 or applying the new rules on a voluntary basis.
According to the government, if Malta had to accept the new directive it would translate into issuing permits to 2,300 refugees already on the island. This number is expected to surge as more illegal immigrants arriving on the island are granted humanitarian status.
Home Affairs and Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici had said after an EU Justice Ministers' meeting in November that the proposal, as designed, put immense pressure on Malta and that the island could not exacerbate the migration problem it already faced.