European Union members on the mainland are not keen to help Malta resettle refugees out of fear that doing so might “appear to immigrants as a free ticket to move deeper into the EU”, according to a confidential US Embassy cable released by Wikileaks.
The cable, written in June 2007 by officials at the US diplomatic mission to the EU, describes a justice and home affairs EU Council meeting in which ministers “offered little concrete help to frontline state Malta to handle the problem” of irregular migration. Ministers felt that “allocating migrants among EU countries could encourage rather than deter illegal migration”, the cable says.
Tonio Borg, at the time Malta’s Home Affairs Minister, is quoted describing the migration situation at the time as “a complete mess”. He dismissed concerns that burden-sharing initiatives would encourage further migrants, telling fellow EU ministers “they (migrants) first cross the desert. If they survive that, they then try to cross the Mediterranean and if they survive that then they are accepted or saved by the European authorities”.
EU ministers recognised a “principle of solidarity” with Malta on the issue but nevertheless refused to be drawn into discussions on concrete forms of assistance, the cable reports.
Neil Falzon, a spokesman for local human rights NGO Aditus, said that a permanent relocation programme “presented or perceived as the preferred channel for every single person in Malta could, in the long-term, become a pull factor”. Any resettlement programme, he said, had to emphasise that it was not available to everyone. For most people, Dr Falzon continued, long-term integration in Malta would continue to be the most realistic option.
A number of developments have occurred since the cable was written four years ago. Since 2008, 342 individuals granted subsidiary protection were resettled in other EU states.
Moreover, European countries this May pledged to resettle a further 350 while the US, which has been at the forefront in offering help in this problem, has relocated 607 migrants.
Earlier this year, the EU announced the creation of a Common European Asylum System by 2012. The system is intended to harmonise member states’ asylum legislation, coordinate asylum initiatives through the European Asylum Support Office and strengthen principles of solidarity among EU member states.
According to UNHCR statistics, between 2005 and 2010 an average of 1,600 irregular migrants landed in Malta each year. The situation spiked in 2008, with 2,775 arrivals and reached a record low in 2010, when a mere 27 migrants arrived in Malta.