EU must show greater solidarity

As one of the smallest countries taking a disproportionate share, in relation to its size, of the inflow of irregular migrants, Malta has good reason to feel disappointed at the European Union’s indifferent attitude to the relocation of asylum seekers to larger parts of the EU.

Only weeks after the dumping of a plan to turn a pilot project for the relocation of irregular migrants into a permanent arrangement, the EU countries have now adopted a common asylum policy. This is naturally something to be proud of, but would it not have been appropriate for the EU to go into burden-sharing as an ancillary move as well?

Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, has described the common policy as a major achievement. And so it is, for, as she herself has pointed out, until now the EU’s asylum policy has been both flawed and incomplete.

The new policy, set to come into force in the second half of 2015, lays down common procedures and deadlines for the handling of applications. For example, member states will have a standard, six-month deadline to determine asylum applications and will only be able to postpone decisions for a further nine months, in three limited and sell-defined cases.

In an article outlining the new policy, also published in the Times of Malta, Ms Malmström recalled, quite correctly, that the move was a reminder that the European Union is founded on values enshrining respect for human rights and the rule of law. This sentiment must have been the underlying force that motivated the approval of the common policy.

People running away from persecution, or from the fear of persecution, for their political or religious beliefs, deserve to be protected. Besides protection, however, they also deserve, as human beings, practical support in their quest to live a normal life.

Most of those that reach Malta after crossing the Mediterranean on rickety boats would not have chosen the island as their destination but, rather, a more attractive country from the point of view of job availability.

In keeping to its values of solidarity and hospitality, there is no question that this country should continue to protect the interests of asylum seekers and refugees and to help them out as much as it is humanly possible while they are here.

But is it not time for the EU to start understanding better the problems faced by such a small country as Malta in housing and integrating such a large inflow of migrants? Its response to the island’s persistent calls for burden sharing has so far been disappointing. The Home Affairs Ministry is, of course, right in expecting Brussels to take its work on the common asylum policy a step further and focus on increasing tangible solidarity in the form of intra-EU relocation. This, it feels, would ensure the upkeep of common standards across the EU.

The sense of disappointment felt by Malta is also very well reflected in the comment made by Jason Azzopardi, the Opposition spokesman on home affairs, when he said that member states on the periphery were being left to their own devices.

Malta and other members receiving a heavy flow of irregular migrants ought to join forces to strongly urge countries in the rest of the EU to see the validity of their concerns and to put into practice what ought to remain one of the guiding principles of the EU: solidarity.