Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil yesterday launched a scathing attack on Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni following the ongoing spat between Malta and Italy over migrants stranded off Lampedusa last week.
Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg before the approval of the European Parliament's position on the EU's Common Immigration Policy, which he drafted, Dr Busuttil accused Mr Maroni of trying to shift Italy's legal responsibilities onto Malta. This was "shameful". He dismissed Mr Maroni's actions as political gimmicks.
"It is shameful that a country of 60 million tries to shift its legal responsibilities onto a country of less than half a million," he said, adding that he hoped this was just an isolated case where a Lega Nord minister was fishing for votes just a few weeks before the European Parliament elections.
"We can see through political gimmicks. But that does not make them acceptable," Dr Busuttil told the European Parliament.
On the other hand, he welcomed the constructive spirit in which the Maltese and Italian Prime Ministers intervened to unblock the situation. "Thanks to their intervention, reason prevailed over gimmicks, commonsense prevailed over intransigence and the rule of law prevailed over the law of the jungle," he said.
Turning onto the contents of his report, Dr Busuttil said the EP wanted a coherent approach on immigration that made action truly effective.
However, during the final vote on the report, things did not go totally the way Dr Busuttil hoped because an amendment by Socialist and Green groups to give legal immigrants voting rights was approved.
Although the three Maltese Labour MEPs voted with Dr Busuttil against the amendments and against their group's line, the majority of Socialist and Green MEPs managed to get their way. Technically, the EP's position on granting voting rights in local elections to regular migrants is not legally binding because the final say in this case is that of member states.
Dr Busuttil's report was adopted by 485 votes in favour, 110 against and 19 abstentions.
The report emphasises the need for a burden-sharing mechanism, envisaged in the Immigration Pact approved by member states last year. It also stresses the need for more repatriations to be made and that illegal third country nationals must leave the EU or be returned.
With regard to the Frontex agency, Dr Busuttil's report stresses the need for the agency to be further strengthened both in terms of financial resources and in terms of its capacity to act.