Editorial

Just over a month ago, as the uprising in Libya was just starting, we forecast that “perhaps the most significant consequence for Malta, and the most worrying threat, is that the floodgates of immigration through the central Mediterranean, which have been thankfully closed in the wake of the Italian-Libyan agreement signed two years ago, will now be re-opened”.

Malta has suddenly found itself having to cope with the arrival of over 800 migrants in 24 hours, composed mainly of Eritreans, Ethiopians and Sudanese. These first three boats are probably the harbinger of worse to come, with both sub-Saharan Africans now in Libya and, in future, Libyan nationals themselves wishing to take to the seas to escape their fate.

For Malta, its ability to cope with the scale of immigration being envisaged poses considerable social, political, practical and economic difficulties. The arguments are genuine. This is a tiny and extremely densely populated island – the most densely populated in Europe by far. Although Lampedusa has been worse hit in recent days, it at least enjoys the safety valve of being part of Italy.

Malta has no such safety valve. When immigrants arrive here, they are stuck here. Coming on top of the 4,000 or so already currently in Malta, the prospects of more magnifies an already difficult situation to proportions approaching a crisis.

In these circumstances, what should Malta be doing to ease the situation? On the diplomatic front, steps have already begun. Foreign Minister Tonio Borg raised the issue at the recent London conference, appealing for solidarity in helping Malta to cope with a sudden influx of this nature. But more remains to be done. When Mediterranean justice ministers had raised the issue in Brussels over a month ago, the EU Commissioner for Justice had said enigmatically that a contingency plan to deal with such a situation was being drawn up. There seems little sign of activity so far to implement it.

A mechanism to trigger burden sharing among EU member states in exceptional circumstances leading to a mass influx of displaced people exists. This would give migrants temporary protection status in all EU countries and would bind countries to cooperate in the transfer of people enjoying this status from one country to another.

It is surely time for this mechanism to be invoked. Malta can genuinely point to the positive role it performed in the evacuation of EU nationals from Libya in the chaos following the uprising. Other EU member states which benefited from that support should recognise the difficulties now potentially facing Malta and play their part in easing the burden.

Although there is an urgency to invoking this mechanism, the reality is that even obtaining a decision by “qualified majority” will take time. While the arrival of 800 immigrants has not yet overwhelmed Malta’s current resources (our detention centres can cater for just under about 2,000), we must be prepared to handle many hundreds more until the laborious process of implementing any burden-sharing mechanism agreed by EU states grinds into action. This will require the opening of fresh temporary accommodation centres to house the immigrants and the administration and manpower oversight to run them.

Time is of the essence. The government must go into overdrive, both on the diplomatic front and in practical contingency arrangements. It is no good hoping the problem will go away. The lesson of the last decade of illegal immigration to Malta is that it will not. We need to prepare for a massive challenge.