Interior Minister Emanuel Mallia told Parliament the Government’s decision to bring the victims of Lampedusa to Malta last Friday was based on humanitarian issues and he had expected stronger support from the Opposition.
There was no need, he said, to criticise such a decision so vehemently. Dr Busuttil had to praise the Government because it sought to value lives, which was of paramount importance. It was difficult to take certain decisions when lives of individuals were at stake, especially in situations where it was certain that people were drowning.
Dr Mallia denied AFM personnel and those who carried out the rescue did nothing special but only their duty. He said it was important that those who took part were given the necessary acknowledgement. They had experienced a traumatic situation and the services of the Richmond Foundation were at hand to give the necessary medical and psychological assistance to all those involved.
Referring to the Salamis case, he said that international law experts had agreed with Malta’s position.
It was only natural that the Government held a certain viewpoint on the EU, once the situation it inherited was not appropriate to seek help and increase the momentum on burden sharing. Meetings with Cecilia Malmstrom had been held and her answer was always the same – the rest of Europe did not want some of these migrants.
It was the Opposition’s fault that links with other states were not forged, he said.
With regard to the task force, he said it was a good thing that discussions on this matter had started, but one had to wait for the results. Malta had applied for €2.5 million in funds for irregular immigration and talks with the American Ambassador on probable future relocations were also held. Talks with the Italian minister on the issue of immigration were also held.
Minister Mallia said Minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Minister Helena Dalli were also giving a hand and had held meetings with local NGOs on the matter.
He also had meetings with the Minister for Netherlands and Minister for Greece to gauge their viewpoints on the future of Frontex.
Minister Dr Mallia said photos of those migrants who were taken to Italy were shown to those being kept in Malta to see if any families have been unintentionally separated during the rescue operation.
In his statement at the beginning of the sitting, Dr Mallia reported on the latest meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council and told Parliament Malta was ready for talks with Italy to make a joint proposal to the EU to consider solutions to the migration problem at the point of departure.
Dr Mallia said that surveillance was not enough and concrete measures had to be taken to stop irregular migration.