Editorial

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has returned to the charge on the issue of illegal migration from Africa through Libya to Europe. Speaking at the opening of the EU-Africa summit hosted by Libya, he warned his country would no longer act as the coastguard for Europe and reiterated his demand for €5 billion a year from the European Union to stop African migrants from flooding into Europe.

Using similar colourful language to that he employed while on a visit to Italy four months ago, Col Gaddafi said: “We should stop this illegal immigration. If we don’t, Europe will become black, it will be overwhelmed by people with different religions, it will change… Only Italy had understood the situation”, pointing out that “because it had cooperated with Libya” (a reference to the financial deal reached with Italy last year), it had managed to delay illegal immigration”. It was inevitable that a summit of which he was the host, with an audience comprised of leaders from all over Europe – though notably missing those of the three most important countries: Germany, France and Britain – would present an irresistible opportunity for President Gaddafi to ratchet up the negotiation over aid by Europe to his country to deal with its illegal immigration problems.

Even setting aside for a moment the appropriateness of his remarks at a meeting ostensibly dealing with achieving a common position between Africa and Europe on climate change and African development, or the language in which they were expressed for an audience that included many of the leaders of the “black” countries of origin from which many illegal immigrants arrive, Col Gaddafi’s main point on this issue would have been closely noted by European leaders.

The EU is in the opening stages of protracted negotiations with Libya over how to control illegal immigration both into Libya, where it poses an undoubted problem to President Gaddafi, and from Libya through the central Mediterranean into Europe, which affects the whole continent but most especially Malta and Italy. The reality is that Col Gaddafi can turn on the tap of illegal immigration at will. While this year has seen a sharp drop in numbers, this country remains vulnerable to what happens in Libya.

Jon Hoisaeter, the Malta representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote thus on the migration problem early last month: “It is still going to be a bumpy road ahead. Malta is likely to receive asylum-seekers and migrants also in the future.”

However, while Col Gaddafi’s message is clear to us, it is not necessarily certain it has been taken on board in the rest of a Europe so beset by economic problems. European Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, a Swede, has been circumspect about the cooperation agreement signed with Libya on October 6. She does not in any case command the funds that could lead to the kind of deal Col Gaddafi is asking for, even if she felt minded to meet his demands. EU countries would have to agree to find whatever funds were finally decided upon.

From Malta’s perspective, there can be only one way forward. That is to continue to encourage the European Commission to pursue a twin-track dialogue with Libya: at the technical level to establish their border control requirements and to facilitate their implementation; and at the diplomatic level to encourage Libyan cooperation in the field of migration and human rights. The momentum of the cooperation agreement with Libya needs to be speeded up.