The EU leaders’ agreement on a migrant relocation system was hailed as a “major breakthrough” by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at the end of an acrimonious summit.
“We managed to get to an unprecedented situation where the weight of migration will no longer fall on frontline countries but it will be shared,” he told a news conference at the end of a summit he described as the “toughest, longest, even the meanest discussion” he has seen at EU Council level.
Determined not to be dragged into negotiations over Greece’s debt debacle at their meeting in Brussels, leaders instead found themselves sparring for seven hours about whether to take in 40,000 asylum seekers now in Italy and Greece and another 20,000 people outside the EU.
Though agreement was reached in the early hours of yesterday, sharing migrants will not be mandatory and the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary and Bulgaria will not be included in the distribution system.
Asked whether the fact the system was non-mandatory could serve as an obstacle to put solidarity into practice, Dr Muscat said some of the leaders had reservations about returning home and informing the electorate they were forced to get into a programme by the European Commission.
The UK, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary and Bulgaria not included
Still, he added, the outcome was very positive because there was ultimately agreement on the need for all of Europe to show solidarity on the migrant problem.
Italy estimates that about 60,000 people have made it across the Mediterranean so far this year.
Almost 2,000 people have died in the attempt, prompting an emergency in the Mediterranean.
Dr Muscat said he was convinced that Malta’s decision to take on about 300 migrants despite being on the frontline of the migration issue had changed the mood among some EU leaders who were initially reluctant to take part in the programme. He said Malta agreed to do its part “because solidarity is not à la carte”, knowing the island would invoke the emergency mechanism should migrant arrivals become unsustainable.
For several months, barely any boat migrants landed in Malta and the situation was sustainable, especially as a result of coordinated work with Italy, he said.
“It wasn’t the easiest political decision to take in migrants from Greece and Italy but the fact we adopted this stand means we can claim the high moral ground. Is it a final solution? No. But we’ve given birth to a principle.”
Asked to react to Nationalist leader Simon Busuttil’s argument that the deal struck by the EU on migration was half-baked and did not treat Malta fairly, Dr Muscat said he wanted to steer away from political bickering.
But he pointed out that, contrary to the previous PN government, which had only obtained a voluntary pilot project when Malta was facing a migrant crisis, the island had seen migrant numbers down to historical levels thanks to its close collaboration with Italy.
The summit also gave the go-ahead for a number of other measures to deal with the migration phenomenon.
The most contentious one is the effective return, readmission and reintegration for those not qualifying for protection.
European Council president Donald Tusk acknowledged the summit was one of the most difficult he remembered as some member states were scared of the consequences back home.
All eyes on Greece
The European Council might be over but all eyes remain on Brussels today as Greece meets eurozone finance ministers in what has been described as a do-or-die meeting.
Last night, there appeared to be renewed optimism that Greece and its international creditors had moved closer to a deal that would allow the cash-strapped country to avoid a default and stay in the eurozone.
Greece’s international creditors yesterday offered Athens a five-month, €12 billion euro extension of its bailout programme but said it must seal a deal this weekend to avoid an IMF default next week.