EU solidarity on migration must be stronger
Frontex’s latest report notes the significant drop in the number of crossings on the central Mediterranean route for the third quarter of 2011. It adds that the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime brought illegal crossings from Libya to Malta to almost a standstill.
The situation in the Mediterranean is, no doubt, much less preoccupying than it used to be. However, this does not mean that one can put one’s mind at rest. The new alarm bell sounded some time ago by Libya’s Home Affairs Ministry, namely that the phenomenon of illegal immigration in the country had started again, quickly springs to mind.
The fresh happenings also led a Libyan spokesman to say that the country needs the EU to intervene, mainly to help monitor the vast Saharan borders in the south, from where hundreds of immigrants were reaching Libya over and above the thousands of people from Syria and neighbouring countries. This, in itself, says a lot.
Malta, which along with other Mediterranean EU countries knows only too well what the phenomenon of immigrants trying to cross from Libya to Europe means, has to remain on the alert and continue to strive for proper EU contribution to the coordinated response the challenge calls for.
One major concern should be to avoid loss of life as much as possible. Too many people have perished crossing the desert to Libya or the sea from Libya to the European continent. Estimates indicate that, last year alone, more than 1,500 migrants drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean.
Another crucial concern is in the form of the big pressures the migration phenomenon puts on the receiving countries.
Unfortunately, EU solidarity in this regard is not what it should be. As Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said when referring to the test European promises of solidarity with people in need went through in 2011, “it is worrying to note that Europe, collectively, did not pass the test”.
The situation lately has had a further downturn. Indeed, Danish Justice Minister Morten Boedskov noted that although solidarity had been discussed at length, there was no agreement: “I can conclude there is no support for an internal EU relocation programme suggested by the Commission. Redistribution of refugees among member states is not the solution”.
As if this were not more than enough, there was an additional blow to countries like Malta. It concerns the possibility of amending the EU’s Dublin II rules that put the responsibility for asylum applications on the first member state that migrants enter. The proposal that these regulations be suspended in the case of member states experiencing sudden influxes of irregular immigrants was dismissed.
The EU is now considering having an early warning system under the Dublin II rules to start assessing member states’ preparedness to deal with irregular immigrants and offer them the necessary assistance when needed. This is not enough.
Malta appreciates the 2009 European relocation programme and the funds provided to improve the living conditions of asylum seekers or to help in support services for people in need of international protection. However, the relocation programme has not achieved the expected results. In spite of two specific pledging initiatives organised by the European Commission, only about 10 member states decided to resettle refugees who had been in Malta. Moreover, to date, they have taken fewer than 500 persons. Ironically, the US has taken many more.
The EU’s solidarity response on migration must be stronger and more convincing.
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Louis Gialanze
Feb 24th, 15:12
@Robert Callus
Stop living in cloud cuckoo land and face the truth just for once. The writing is on the wall for Malta as well. Good job the Maltese can look after themseves. Rest assured the aliens will meet their match here - sharia law or not. Coconuts are better off on the right side of the law when the time bomb explodes.
Peter Shaw
Feb 21st, 21:27
YAWN !!!!
Peter Shaw
Feb 21st, 21:20
Solidarity my back!!!
Graham Holme
Feb 21st, 10:26
With respect.
Malta keeps insisting it is suffering a huge immigration problem.
Like the rest of Europe,where are parts of your major cities,turned into no go areas?
Where are the areas in Malta,when walking along the streets you would be hard pressed to see a Maltese face?
When,where in Malta do you get marches by these illegal invaders,telling the Maltese police to "Go,burn in hell"demanding Sharia law, spouting various messages of hate,Mosques springing up like mushrooms on a damp spring morning?(Re documentary last night BBC 3,the effects of Muslim migration,Militant Islam,Luton,U.K.).
The rest of Europe is full up,with racist tensions increasing by the minute,I am afraid there will be no mad rush to reallocate the immigrants in Malta
Robert Callus
Feb 21st, 16:39
Dear Mr Holme
From your comments it's clear you love reading the Daily Mail or some other sensationalistic right-wing tabloid. The good news is that most of what's written on them is many times untrue or extremely exaggerated. Even better, they talk about news, laws and gossip happenning in the UK, not Malta.
In fact here, no political party has Sharia law in it's manifesto, and the only proposed new court is a drug court. The only freaks on the same line are neither Muslims and definiely not immigrants (hekk ghidilhom!). They are, you guessed it, the extreme right who want amongst other things to introduce polygamy: http://www.vivamalta.org/newforum/index.php/topic,4690.msg181773.html#msg181773
We don't have either Islamic parties nor anti-Islam parties (not even the extreme right, their pet hate is Jews and blacks). Except for an occasional glitch, very small in significance there are no racial tensions either. Neither do we have some serious problem with racism and as long you don't read the link quoted above too much you will see that while we do grumble a lot we aren't hate-filled-rednecks by anymeans.
I don't know where you live but if you happen to be visiting Malta, please contact me and I'll take you to Marsa open centre where you can order good Erithrean food for a very cheap price delivered from an elderly Erithrean lady who isn't very fluent in English but has really good manners and can teach a few of us what respecting customers means.
The majority of the people in the centre happen to be black but rest assured you are completely safe. No one has ever been assauted for being white.
Maybe one day you will decide to leave whatever scary country you must be living here and migrate to Malta. You are most welcome, we are hospitable people. If you improve your attitude towards non-white foreigners a little, it would just make things easier for everyone.
Regards
Robert
Graham Holme
Feb 22nd, 10:36
@
Dear Robert
My comments observations do not come from any right wing newspaper.
I was born,lived all my life in the U.K.,between Leeds and Bradford,saw first hand the industrial town of Bradford slowly taken over,now it is known as Bradfordistan,a Muslim enclave,with areas if you are non Muslim,you do not enter.
Thank you for your invite to Marsa,with my safety guaranteed,pity I can not return the invite,as a walk through areas of major cities in the U.K where the Muslim population has taken over,as a non Muslim would be foolish indeed. You will be well aware when entering such areas as the many posters will tell you "Beware you are now entering a Sharia only zone"
Racist attacks are on the increase,carried out by gangs of Muslim males and Females on non Muslim persons,one such attack caught on CCT,the attackers because the were Muslim,escaped with suspended sentences,if it had been the other way round,a long time inside would have been the order of the day.
Please view attached link,as these followers of the "Religion of peace"beat ,kick this young girl,would love to hear your comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wiRYWb8imo.
Karl Consiglio
Feb 21st, 09:37
"EU solidarity on migration must be stronger"
Min jaf kemm ilna nghiduha dik.
Louise Vella
Feb 21st, 09:22
IV
As you rightly write, the EU relocation programme for the benefit of Malta has not achieved the expected results. In other words, it has been a failure. You also call for a “proper EU contribution to the coordinated response the challenge calls for”. But as other countries do not want to suspend Dublin II, and as the northern countries do not want to engage seriously in burden sharing, and as there is a lot of unemployment all over the EU, the only acceptable coordinated response is one to stop the illegal immigrants from coming. Greece is building a barbed wire fence on its border with Turkey. We need FRONTEX to grow into a strong coastguard and to start pushing back the boats. If this takes place, then the boats will not even leave the Libyan shore and, among other advantages, fewer lives will be lost at sea.
Louise Vella
Feb 21st, 09:20
III
“Avoid loss of life”. Everybody wants to avoid loss of life! The best way to do it would be to hold a campaign among the illegal immigrants waiting on the Libyan shore to warn them of the dangers of the sea crossings. However all the rhetoric of the NGOs and the do-gooders in favour of illegal immigrants only encourage them to take risks. This way, indirectly (and no doubt involuntarily) the do-gooders are partly responsible for losses of lives at sea.
Louise Vella
Feb 21st, 09:17
II
The Swede Cecilia Malmstrom keeps preaching about solidarity and burden sharing, but nobody wants to carry a burden. As you write, other EU countries took only 500 of our illegal immigrants over the years. That’s less than 5% of boat people arriving here. So, all those – such as UNHCR and JRS – who preach about burden sharing know that burden sharing does not work. They know that the volunteers to take our illegal immigrants are few and far between. So why do they go on holding up the mirage of burden sharing? I guess it’s to persuade the good people of Malta to go on carrying the burden in the fond hope that someone somewhere sometime will come to relieve us of the large numbers of illegal immigrants that we see roaming the streets of our towns and villages.
Louise Vella
Feb 21st, 09:13
You write a lot of sense in this editorial, but you do not draw the right conclusions. If the northern countries, like Denmark, which are the richest in the EU and the most sparsely populated, say that “redistribution of refugees among member states is not the solution”, then there must be another solution. That is, to stop the illegal immigrants from coming to the EU.