Voters have solution to irregular immigration

The problem of irregular immigration has been the subject of controversy for years now, but public discussion has to be coupled with appropriate political action in order to resolve the issue. The question has now assumed national importance due to the vulnerability of our country as a frontier state of the European Union, and consequently the political action is to reflect both the national and the international dimensions of the problem.

We first have to distinguish the socio-economic reality in Africa from the political measures that need to be taken by Malta and the EU.

The waves of population migratory flows from Africa to Europe are of biblical proportions and will continue, irrespective of what Malta and the other countries affected do or don't do to control the harmful consequences on their territories. Legitimate action by receiving countries is not to be construed as encouraging or discouraging the migratory flows, because the migratory flows are the consequence of the economic adjustments taking place in Africa and arise from situations of conflict within and between several African countries.

The situation which has arisen in Malta as a frontier state of the EU has to be resolved by means of burden sharing by the other EU countries. The Maltese government, opposition and MEPs have already conveyed to the EU authorities the gravity of the problems we are facing - that Malta cannot continue to safely absorb such numbers of immigrants every year - but the EU institutions are not addressing our problem collectively and EU-wide, because the political will is lacking.

Public opinion in a democracy has such extraordinary power that it can exert pressure on governments. By bringing our plight to the attention of public opinion within the countries of the European Union, pressure may be exerted on the European governments to resolve Malta's plight. Such a message has to be sent by the Maltese people concertedly; and what better occasion can present itself than the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament?

Candidates and the electorate are to take part in the electoral process while protesting the situation. The candidates would dedicate their campaign to this issue while making sure that their name is not on the ballot, thus ensuring that no candidate is elected to the EU Parliament and the seats allotted to Malta are not taken up immediately. The electorate is to be encouraged to join in the protest by either abstaining from voting or by invalidating their vote, by writing a message of protest on the ballot.

Come next June the European public would come to know about the Maltese protest and would surely manifest its solidarity, so much so that this problem which is so huge for us to shoulder on our own would be resolved within the European context.

Of course once the problem has been resolved, the candidates would not only be acknowledged as the country's heroes but be given the chance to contest the election so that those elected could take up their seats.

This protest, due to its civility, would not tarnish our efforts to fight the effects of the global economic crisis and would earn us recognition that we are really a mature people who should be treated on the basis of equality with the other European countries.