European Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen has called for a “fair” asylum policy to speed up the process of people who deserve refugee status and repatriate those who did not.

Mr Katainen made this appeal when addressing a joint news conference with European Affairs Minister Louis Grech at Auberge D’Aragon in Valletta. Mr Katainen is in Malta as part of a European tour to promote a €315 billion investment package piloted by the European Investment Bank.

Asked for his reaction about the migration crisis gripping central and eastern Europe, Mr Katainen echoed the calls made by Malta and Italy for a global solution.

He said the issue had to be treated on three fronts – the international, European and national levels. On the international front, he called for more efforts to stabilise the political situation in countries like Syria, from where thousands of civilians have been forced to escape.

“We have to take care of the people who are suffering. We have to keep our heart warm, but must be pragmatic and find solutions…We need a fair asylum policy,” he said.

On a European and national level he said there needed to be a fair asylum policy.

On his part, Mr Grech said talks with Brussels about the setting up of a development bank were in the final stages, and the Commission was expected to give its clearance in a few months’ time.

The aim of the Malta Development Bank would be to support “risk financing” - providing funds to cover the financial effect of unexpected losses experienced by a firm.

He said that idea was not to compete with commercial banks, but to provide risk financing services which has suffered a blow due to the beefing up of safeguards introduced on banks in the wake of the financial crisis.

Dr Grech said this bank would address “a market failure” in the Maltese scenario.

Apart from this investment bank, Malta has also proposed a series of projects in the health, transportation but no decision has been taken yet.

Mr Katainen also had a meeting with Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.