PM expects action from Van Rompuy

The Prime Minister expects the President of the European Council to send a message to all other member states that Malta is small and cannot deal with the influx of immigrants on its own.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the arrival of 1,000 migrants in a few days may be insignificant for other member states but was a hefty number for a small island state like Malta.

Asked about his meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday and what Malta expected of Europe, Dr Gonzi said Malta wanted Europe to show its solidarity in a concrete manner.

“I told Mr Van Rompuy that he, as President of the European Council, was duty bound to get the message across to other member states that Malta’s situation is different and it needs all the help it can get,” Dr Gonzi said. Following his talks with Dr Gonzi, Mr Van Rompuy said Europe “should and can” do more to help Malta deal with the problem of mass immigration.

“Europe has already done a lot for Malta but a lot still has to be done,” Dr Gonzi said yesterday when asked to elaborate on Mr Van Rompuy’s statement.

“The extension of the (resettlement) pilot project because Malta’s situation is different to that of other countries, and the fact that member states are being urged to take migrants from Malta, are already strong messages from Europe. There has been positive news from Germany and I hope other countries will follow suit. But this is not enough.”

He said the situation in Libya was very unstable and if it remained unchanged, Malta would need the help of the EU “more than ever before”.

“Malta will continue lobbying for more solidarity from other European member states as well as ensure that Europe is closer to us in a concrete manner. In the meantime, Malta will continue performing its humanitarian duties by rescuing people in difficulty,” he said.

Mr Van Rompuy’s declaration came in the same week that EU member states rejected Malta’s request for the activation of an emergency burden-sharing mechanism to help it deal with an influx of migrants fleeing Libya. However, it has extended a 2008 pilot project under which member states could offer to resettle some migrants from Malta in their own territories.