Italy supporting Malta's bid for asylum office

John Micallef. Spot on. Libya has the space and the resources and the culture to act as half-way house to the hordes emanating from Muslim Africa. When they are granted asylum they will be able to cross over to Malta(?) and beyond in style and not in rickety dinghies that imperil life and limb. However, there are two problems to this solution. One is that whoever thought of this brilliant idea has, or would, resist the Libya connection because that is one cage that must not be rattled. Nearer home, with no clandestine crossings the Maltese rescuers on the high seas would be out of a job and GonziPN would not want to alienate those brave sailors and their magnificent work -and their votes, naturally. He wouldn't, would he now?!

@ Joseph Micallef. It seems that at times, naive and positive have exactly the self-same meaning.

what do we need an asylum office for? can't this be set up in libya? for sure italy supports us on this issue. maybe our government is seeing this as another employer to employ the unemployed? malta WAKE UP

The following was provided on the soderkoping.org.ua site:

"UNHCR welcomes the proposed EASO Regulation, with the ultimate objective of promoting high quality asylum decision-making and greater consistency in the outcomes of asylum procedures across the European union. The Commission proposes that UNHCR sit as a (non-voting) member of the EASO Management Board, and for UNHCR to contribute in other ways to the work of the EASO. UNHCR welcomes this and considers that the proposed Regulation takes due account of its supervisory role and responsibilities, based on its mandate and Declaration 17 to the Amsterdam Treaty. The comments furthermore contain UNHCR views on other elements of the proposal, including on its tasks, governance, and operation, including also the transparency of the EASO's functioning and its cooperation with third countries."

The UNHCR have absolutely no credibility with most of us the Maltese people. By now we know what UNHCR are all about and we repudiate even UNHCR's presence on Malta. EASO will only be able to operate at a high administrative level to the disgust and indignation of the person on the street. Only a bi-lateral approach will ever stop the ongoing trafficking, human carnage and congestion emanating from Libya.

A Trojan Horse and our politicants are fighting to get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Has anybody in goverment tried to explain what actually this office in tails.
ie Is going to be a magnet for more illegals .
When are we going to draw a line in the sand and say no MORE ,and withdraw from the UN convention full stop.

if only the goverment looks at certain places he knows that this is only going to bring more problems. we have already had fighting between tribes here in malta, just two or three weeks ago.
judas sold jesus, gonzi is selling malta for much less

Why do we need to have the European asylum and support office here in Malta. Can somebody in government explain why it will be of help to us ? Why din't Italy with all the migrants that they get bid for the office as well ? Why is it that only Malta and Bulgaria were the only two nations who saw any benefit in bidding for the asylum office ?

I cannot understand why Malta (and Cyprus, and Bulgaria for that matter) would want to host an Asylum Office. It may be well-funded but that would still leave Malta with horrendous logistical realities. Not least the fact that a strong but fragile culture is being undermined by alien goings-on all around us. But hey! if you get paid for the inconvenience, who cares. The Polish PM, who is supporting the proposal, had this to say about the matter. This was barely a week ago (22nd October 2009 to be exact).

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091022/local/business-delegation-accompanies-polish-pm-to-malta

And on 23rd October 2009 - the picture tells us all we need to know. An admonishing Polish finger is something to be reckoned with.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091023/local/forced-burden-sharing-difficult-polish-pm

Having such an office in Malta does not mean having more asylum seekers in Malta. Some can be so naive or maybe they are just being negative!

For a few jobs, the government is willing to sell Malta. What a joke. Malta the Asylum Center of the Mediterranean and Europe. What a beautiful title. All I see is the destabilzationof Malta as happend in Lebanon when it couldn't take anymore refugees and everyone fought for what little there was. The Asylum Center should be in France or Italy not Malta with just 122 sq miles.

As has been highlighted by many people before me, I sense trouble. But as always we tend to pretend that we are holier than the Pope. Is this a case of the right hand not knowing what the left one is doing?

@Alex Miller-The only "turists" that will arrive due to this, office will be African turists. I hope you understand my euphemisim.

Gonzi resign now. ADT, Mepa, 100% surcharge, sky high prices; all throughout your govern ship Malta has become a failure and a laughing stock. The people don't want you, we don't want illegal immigrants in Birzebbugia and in Marsa. We do not want to host an asylum office!

As far as I know Malta's competitors for this office are Bulgaria and Cyprus. Having this Office in Malta would mean more jobs; more tourists (as many people from the EU will come for meetings of the agency); and more EU money. Good luck Malta

Our elected politicians do not care about the country, all they care about is providing more cushy jobs for the boys (and girls) and staying in office themselves.

Of course Italy supports Malta's bid for this office! Gonzi's penchant for such boners is uncanny.

Why would Malta want to host an Asylum office ? Don't we host enough illegal immigrants. Take the asylum office to UN headquarters, so more UN workers can make more money from the issue of illegal immigrants. I would also thank Italy for the billion Euro over the years but now we need more than money. We need to rid of the illegal immigrants ASAP. Send them back to Russia, China, Africa and wherever they come from.

How naive the maltese politicians have become. Nothing could be worse than having an Asylum Office in Malta. This will turn Malta into a third world country for sure as more illegals be come to Malta and if their applications are not accepted, Malta will get stuck with these unwanted individuals as is the case today. Where has Malta gone in the past 8-10 years. REally sad to see our hard earned freedom to come to this and putting our security (both on a human level as well as our territory) at risk.

very clever of Italy to support our bid for an asylum office

WE will become the bus stop for all the Africans who want to enter Europe. Italy are saving themselves a lot of trouble this way. Is it possible that no one in Parliament can see this??? What do we pay you for??

Why did we even volunteer in the first place? Why didn't we volunteer for example, to have NATO warships stationed here, to repatriate all illegal immigrants and stop any new arrivals ?

Why does Malta always volunteer for a "kanna" ? Can you tell me why in the middle of a severe recession politicians are still hell bent on getting more economic migrants to sponge of the European welfare states?

Are you trying to bankrupt Europe on purpose? 'Cos it certainly looks like it. !

Mela fejn jaqbilhom biss jissaportjawa dawn?

CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN CLEARLY WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING THIS OFFICE STATIONED HERE.
To be clear I smell somthing fishy in that only Bulgaria applied and Italy, with such a huge immigration problem, is suppoting us for the office?!?!

I support Bulgaria, so that all the illegal immigrants can go there - with all there benefits and advantages - and be processed there.