Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning expressed concern at the lack of migration policy in the European Union.
While the EU has a policy on the size of oranges, it does not have one on migration, he said.
Addressing a joint news conference with the Socialists’ EU Presidential candidate Martin Schulz, he said it was obvious that the EU lacked focus on the reality of migration and had not woken to it.
“Mr Schulz knows our realities of those of the Mediterranean and we discussed how he, as President intends to go about this issue.”
Malta, he said, had been advocating for a common migration policy.
“People who need protection should get it but this should not be a free for all,” he said.
Mr Schulz acknowledged that Malta was strongly affected by the burden of migration.
“No country can be left alone. We need another structure on migration,” he said, noting that he had always expressed solidarity with Malta.
The fact that the EU did not have rules on migration was a problem.
“We need to discuss new rules acknowledging that we have migration and that a legal system on immigration is needed. I will make it my priority to bring order in this area... We need to stop pushing people into criminal gangs,” he said.
The EU needed a system of legal immigration which would not allow anybody to settle in Europe and there would be no guarantee that those who ended up in Europe would be accepted.
Dr Muscat also said that Labour’s commitment was to promote a social Europe and policies that fostered growth.
“We managed to increase economic growth fourfold without austerity measures but with free childcare, income tax cuts and reduced energy bills. We also reduced the deficit.”
The Prime Minister was also asked about former MEP candidate Cyrus Engerer, who withdrew his candidature after he was given a two-year suspended jail term for distributing porn and said that accepting someone found guilty of criminal charges within your fold did not mean he condoned what he did.
The PN, he said, has two MPs who were found guilty of criminal offences but he did not think that this meant that the Opposition leader condoned their criminal behaviour.