Kurt Sansone
Italy backs Libya office proposal
Italy to fine illegal migrants
Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni has backed Malta's proposal of setting up an agency in Libya where asylum seekers would be able to apply for protection.
Mr Maroni, who was speaking yesterday during a discussion programme on Italian television, said he would be meeting the UNHCR's representatives to explain his government's position.
The proposal to have an agency and checkpoints in Libya was first floated publicly by Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici in The Sunday Times last week.
"The proposal we are making is not that suggested by the UNHCR to take in all migrants and then process their application. We want to create a structure in Libya so that the evaluation process to determine whether someone is eligible for protection can be held over there," Mr Maroni said.
The EU lacked "decisive action" on the matter, he said, accusing the union of leaving Italy, Spain and Malta "all alone to face a phenomenon that concerns all of Europe".
Mr Maroni defended his government's hard-line stance of immediately sending back to Libya all migrants rescued at sea. The contentious decision was criticised by the UNHCR, the Vatican's migration commission and other humanitarian organisations for breaching the fundamental human right of a person to ask for protection.
Meanwhile, Italy yesterday tightened its anti-immigrant stand when Parliament passed a law making those who arrive illegally in Italy liable to a fine.
A total of 316 lawmakers voted for the legislation punishing illegal entry or residence on Italian soil with a fine of between €5,000 and €10,000, in a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's administration.
The law also stipulates that anyone caught letting accommodation to people living illegally would be liable to a maximum of three months in jail.
Another amendment increased the minimum detention period for illegal immigrants from two months to six.
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J Oatmon
May 15th 2009, 08:19
A major problem is illegal immigrants dispose of their ID deliberatelt to cover their tracks, and so they cannot be returned to their home country.
The answer is 'no ID = no entry under any circumstances' (after all you or I cannot enter a foreign country outside the EU without ID).
This ID requirement will stop criminals on the run from their countries justice system, mentally unstable and other 'undesirables' to be checked out (do they have a criminal history, are they running from unpaid debts, are they nutters etc) and be screened out and sent back. Genuine 'reasonable applicants' could be screened and either accepted or rejected and returned to their home country.
No ID, or no willingness to cooperate should be a red flag, and an immediate assumption of something to hide, and a rejection for entry or asylum.
If Malta starts doing this IMO it will force illegal's to carry ID papers, or give up their attempts to get into Malta/EU.
Michelle Dali
May 14th 2009, 23:12
@ Joe Grima (Brussels)
I agree with your comments 100% - couldn't have said it better myself! Common sense is what we need.
louise vella
May 14th 2009, 16:18
UNHCR has spent the last six years attacking the Maltese and Italian governments through such employees as Laura Boldrini, Neil Falzon, Michele Manca de Nissa and others. It can be relied upon to run any office in Libya in the interests of African illegal immigrants and to inflate the numbers of accepted asylum seekers.
Joe Grima (Brussels)
May 14th 2009, 15:41
This should have been done after the first boatloads had started leaving Libya. If UNHCR had opened that establishment THEN, the beneficial results would have been several.
1. No hardships to any who try crossing.
2. No useless loss of life.
3. No robbing of the migrants by the moneymaking organizers.
4. No need of crossing by those who do not qualify.
5. No overburdens on Malta, Italy, and other countries.
6. No need of refugee centres.
If the concerned NGOs had started action, instead of blaming Malta, Italy....so many lives could have been saved, to say nothing of other insurmountable problems Malta and Italy have to face while trying to cope with the human flood. MAY COMMON SENSE PREVAIL!
Alexander Morana
May 14th 2009, 14:12
Joe Grima, this must have surely by passed Joseph Muscat, because it's not on his 20 pointer!
Michael Neville Cassar
May 14th 2009, 13:59
This is what we want , A positive way, and not the crying excuse’s of the so hearted goody to force our country on its knees, Well done Italy and let us follow up.
Joanne Micallef
May 14th 2009, 12:59
Way to go Italy, let us hope we follow suit asap or else we risk being targeted as the only safe port to Europe's doors.
As for Malta's proposal, why didn't our Goverment suggest such a proposal before??
David Seychell
May 14th 2009, 10:54
"Meanwhile, Italy yesterday tightened its anti-immigrant stand when Parliament passed a law making those who arrive illegally in Italy liable to a fine...between €5,000 and €10,000," This means that the illegal immigrants that enter Italy's territorial waters will be heavily fined while those that are saved by Italy in international waters will be sent back to Libya.
This shows that it is not true that there are no solutions to this problem, as many would like us to believe. We just need the courage and the political will to pursue the national interest with greater determination.
Joe Grima
May 14th 2009, 10:50
That's the way to go. I have been suggesting court action against illegal immigrants who break our immigration laws by entring without proper documentation and then repatriation, This is what the Italians will be doing now that the new law has been passed. The italians have added an important element. Anyone who rents property to illegals becomes liable at law and will be subject to a prison term.
The Agency and checkpoints in Libya is a good idea for which Minister Mifsud Bonnici deserves credit. Have the Libyans agreed to this and who will be manning the ofice, UNHCR, Italians, Maltese or the Libyans themselves?