Green light for EU Asylun Agency and Malta office

The rules regulating the new EU Asylum Agency and the opening of its headquarters in Malta later this year were approved by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee.

A resolution to that effect was approved by 40 votes in favour, five against and one abstention following a report by UK Green MEP Jean Lambert.

Ms Lambert's report was the subject of a compromise negotiated with the Council of the EU and is likely to be adopted without any problems by the MEPs at their plenary session in Strasbourg next week.

"I sincerely hope the office in Malta will provide real added value when it comes to improving the quality and capacity of member states' asylum systems, above all to help ensure protection is provided to those who need it," Ms Lambert said after the vote.

The agency, to be located next to the Malta Maritime Authority offices in Valletta, would make it possible not only to ensure member states worked together with the same high standards but would also help put an end to the lottery of treatment asylum seekers faced in Europe, the MEP added.

"However, the office will not solve everything. The responsibility to ensure a high quality delivery of the Common European Asylum System lies within member states," she concluded.

Malta won the right to host its first EU agency last year in the face of harsh competition from Cyprus and Bulgaria that also sought to host the agency.

The European Commission has already issued a call for applications to recruit the agency's new head who will be responsible for the official set-up.

The agency has already been allocated a budget of €50 million to spend in Malta in its first three years of operation and is expected to employ about 100 officials, including Maltese.

Meanwhile, in the context of proposals for a new EU programme aimed at facilitating the process of taking refugees from third countries by member states, MEPs appealed to the Commission to consider the launch of an intra-EU resettlement programme similar to the one already in place in the US, Canada and Australia.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, who heads the EPP group in the Civil Liberties Committee, said that while it was important that member states helped third countries and resettled refugees, "charity should begins at home" and solidarity should be shown with overburdened countries such as Malta.

Last year, the EU introduced its first intra-EU resettlement programme tailor-made for Malta's needs so that other member states could resettle refugees and asylum seekers stuck in Malta. However, albeit a pilot project, few member states have so far shown any interest to take "Maltese" refugees.

According to the EP committee, in a global level the EU made far less of a contribution to resettlement than other developed countries.

In September 2009, the Commission presented a communication to draw up a common European resettlement programme for refugees from third countries, on a voluntary basis, and a proposal modifying existing rules governing the European Refugee Fund for 2008-2013.

It is anticipated EU countries could receive a fixed sum of €4,000 for each person resettled, depending on a number of priorities, such as women and children exposed to violence or exploitation, unaccompanied minors and people with major medical requirements.

In 2008, the EU contributed just 6.7 per cent to resettling refugees throughout the world, with 4,378 people being resettled.

To encourage more member states to get involved in resettlement, MEPs agreed funding should be raised to €6,000 per person in the first year for member states applying for the first time, €5,000 in the second year and €4,000 subsequently.

MEPs said the new long-term EU budget (2013-2017) should include specific funding for resettlement and provide financial support in favour of a more ambitious resettlement programme.

The proposal by the Civil Liberties Committee now needs the endorsement of the full plenary before being negotiated with member states.