Assistance to migrants unsustainable

The Maltese government's present provision of assistance to illegal immigrants at sea and in difficulty to enable them to reach Italy is laudably humane.

It is also quite misguided, and wholly unsustainable into the medium term.

The logical extension of the government's present policy would be for Malta to set up a shipping line from Africa to Italy, dedicated to illegal immigrants and paid for by people-traffickers. In this way illegal immigrants would be placed at less risk in their journey and have every assurance of reaching their intended destination of mainland Europe in complete safety.

Clearly such a situation is patently absurd, but it serves to point up the illogical and mis-serving stance currently being taken by Malta.

We in Europe need to recognise and accept the fact that the present influx of illegal immigrants is simply the vanguard of a gathering flood of desperate people attempting to escape the effects of ecological and political breakdown in Africa and Asia.

The EEC-wide policy positions we take at this point need to be consistent and adequate to this dire future vision. A more enlightened policy would be to return would-be immigrants to their homelands and provide them with such assistance as is needed to make their situation tolerable there.

Humane but essentially misguided and unsustainable policies, together with the liberal democratic political parties that espouse them, will be swept aside once the unacceptable burden imposed by uncontrolled immigration becomes all too evident. Then God help us all.