Frontex, the EU border control agency, has agreed to strengthen its capacity for the repatriation of migrants and may lease an aircraft for the purpose, director-general Ilka Latenen said today.

Speaking after talks with Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Mr Latenen said Frontex would consider leasing an aircraft for repatriation flights to start from Malta.

At present most repatriations from Malta are made through arrangements with other countries, with aircraft stopping over in Malta on their way to the migrants' countries whenever they have empty seats.

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry said that Frontex will also be helping Malta to obtain the travel documents needed to make repatriations possible, a role currently undertaken by the police. No migrants may be repatriated without such documentation.

Only half of the migrants who arrive in Malta are found to be eligible for humanitarian protection and the rest, therefore, have to be repatriated.

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