Forget burden-sharing and insist on a common repatriation policy

Just a year ago, PNPLAD were downplaying the issue of illegal immigration - and were through their hounds in the media, routinely resorting to labeling those who could easily foresee the dire consequences of this chaotic influx as racists and xenophobes.

Indeed they were downplaying it to such an extent that the issue of illegal immigration did not even get a mention in the PL's electoral manifesto. The Greens - the standard bearers of multiculturalism went further - they stated that they would give all asylum seekers the right to work. Their website is inundated with articles and documents that extol the benefits of diversity. As for the PN - they have been in perpetual government since the problem started yet did little of substance to stem this colonisation - and the Prime Minister's recent address to Ban Ki-Moon does not exactly instill confidence that they eventually will.

Still, what a difference a few months make. Now that the other parties have finally figured out how the public really feels on the matter - they want to be seen to be acting on the issue with the gravity that it deserves. Hell, even Arnold congratulated the government for standing firm to Maroni.

Having had no coherent policy of its own, the PL resorted to borrowing heavily from AN's ten point action plan on illegal immigration and electoral manifesto, albeit dressing the policies in a more politically correct fashion. It also recently admitted in an address to the UN secretary general that the UN's obsolete conventions need to be rewritten to reflect today's reality.

All this is to an extent, well and good - Firstly it proves that Azzjoni Nazzjonali was correct in its prognosis and proposed solutions and secondly that by being resolute on the matter even when it was not politically convenient, Azzjoni Nazzjonali has forced the issue to the centre of the political agenda.

Yet the cynic in me - fears that all this is just posturing borne of convenience rather than conviction and come June 7 - the rhetoric and ‘action' on illegal immigration will subside one again. Worse, the other three parties have failed to comprehend the dynamics and all of them simply echo each other that the magical solution will be some form of European wide burden-sharing mechanism. Forget it.

When the much vaunted Frontex was launched it was hailed as our salvation. Azzjoni Nazzjonali said that, given that it did not have the political mandate to send immigrants back - it would make things worse. When Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici returned from Brussels waving a piece of paper called ‘voluntary burden sharing' - AN organised a public protest and demanded his resignation. It is obvious to those who will not be easily deceived - that there will never be such a thing as an obligatory burden-sharing agreement - the latest standoff with Italy should be proof enough. Such an agreement would be political suicide for any European government which even contemplated signing it.

However there is a realistic option where the EU can prove its worth. Given that member states with immigration problems such as Spain have concluded repatriation agreements with third party countries under their own steam, I see no reason why it should prove impossible to force these agreements by using the EU's collective political and economic clout. I believe it is this course of action along with amendments to the Dublin II that is the most realistic recourse the EU can offer and it is here that I would expend my energy. Enough time has been wasted already.