European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has warned member states to act together and show more solidarity on migration if they want to avoid “populist and extreme forces” taking over in the EU.
Stopping short of mentioning any member state, Mr Barroso warned that the EU’s inaction may give rise to certain politicians and far-right groups using arguments to try and lure voters with similar racist attitudes.
His warning comes at a time when recent immigration flows and the squabbles which erupted between Malta, Italy, France and Germany on related issues have led to an increase in comments of an extremist nature, urging the protection of Europe’s national interest and against being “invaded” by Africans.
A Commission official yesterday told The Times Mr Barroso “wanted to sound the alarm over certain comments made in certain member states over the last days which sound extreme and populist”.
“We were not referring to any particular country but we just wanted the message to reach all member states that extremism and populism will not lead to any solution,” the official said.
Last week, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni questioned whether Italy should remain in the EU after his European colleagues turned down his request to trigger the solidarity mechanism that would see other member states sharing the burden of arriving migrants.
His comments were followed by extreme declarations made by two of his colleagues from the Lega Nord party, Italy’s Deputy Transport Minister Roberto Castelli and MEP Francesco Speroni, who suggested weapons should be used against migrants.
Last month, the European Network Against Racism hit out against Maltese media for “promoting racism” and acting as a main “contributor to the fear of Malta being invaded and conquered by Africans”.
In a hard-hitting report, it said racial discrimination was still widespread in Malta, particularly in areas such as employment and housing and pointed a finger towards the media for encouraging such discrimination with its focus on irregular migration problems.
The head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Malta, Jon Hoisaeter, described the language used on online fora provided by local newspapers as “rather aggressive towards immigrants” and “used extensively by far-right groups to get their message across”.
Mr Barroso also referred to a visit he made to Tunisia last week, where he appealed to the new government to cooperate with the EU member states to repatriate thousands of economic migrants who arrived in Lampedusa.
“I don’t think it is in the interest of third countries that there is a debate in Europe on such sensitive issues and that certain populist and extremist forces seek to take advantage of these problems.”