A petition by the Campaign for National Independence (CNI) calling for drastic action by Malta to counter illegal immigration has so far been signed by 25,000 people, CNI leader Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici said today.

He said that while the European economy needed migrants because of a declining population , the situation was different in Malta, which had a dense population and migrants were taking the jobs of the Maltese.

"The EU is encouraging immigration to make up for its shrinking population, and yet it is also spending large amounts of money promoting the use of contraceptives, therefore reducing its own birth rate," Dr Mifsud Bonnici said at a press conference. This, he said, was a paradox, and Europe should instead have incentives to boost the European birth rate.

He said the CNI was therefore calling for drastic action which included the immediate return to Libya of migrants in Malta, and a system to help migrants on their way to Europe, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

The first option was already being done by Italy, he said, and no human rights were being violated because Libya was not the country of origin of the migrants.

And there should be no problem with the second option once Europe itself was saying that it needed the migrants.

Migrants had not been arriving in Malta because of the success of Italy's new policy, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said, but that did not mean that the problem had gone away. For one, Malta still had quite a number of migrants which it could not cater for and should be sent back.

The petition is being collected across Malta and Gozo and will be presented to the Maltese Parliament.

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