The Maltese Representation to the EU said today that while there was no agreement at an EU Home Affairs Ministers' meeting last week to continue talks on the forced relocation of asylum seekers, the meeting agreed to continue talks on the voluntary relocation of beneficiaries of international protection.
"This is in line with the Commission's intention, as expressed in its Communication of December 2011, to propose a permanent voluntary relocation scheme, following an impact assessment, based on the Pilot Project for Malta," the Representation said.
It was reacting to a report published in The Times last Saturday.
The Representation said it was incorrect to suggest that there was a lack of support for Malta's situation amongst EU Member States.
"Indeed, it should be noted that Ministers at the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting acknowledged the particular situation of Malta, while the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, has consistently urged Member States to support Malta through EUREMA (European re-location programme for Malta), which was extended in April 2011. In fact, at the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, Commissioner Malmström once again reiterated her call for Member States to do more in terms of relocation from Malta."
The discussion at the meeting was based on a question which was posed by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The question was not whether Member States agree with the Commission's intention to propose a permanent voluntary relocation scheme, the Representation said. The question which was asked was whether relocation should be available only for a few small states such as Malta or extended to others.
"What was recognised by ministers was, therefore, that relocation projects such as EUREMA should be limited to small countries like Malta that face disproportionate pressure given their geographic and demographic characteristics."
The Commission will be carrying out an impact assessment based on EUREMA and its extension - as it does before making any new proposals. Its proposal to create a permanent voluntary relocation scheme would be based on the outcome of that assessment.
The Representation denied that Ministers rejected a proposal to amend the EU's Dublin Regulation which puts the responsibility for asylum seekers on the Members State of first entry. No such proposal was on the table at the meeting.
Rather, Member States confirmed their agreement to the establishment of an early warning system within the Dublin Regulation, with a view to identifying difficulties and addressing them with the provision of the necessary assistance and solidarity.
The Times has reported that Malta's attempts to convince member states to show concrete solidarity on migration suffered a major setback when EU interior ministers declared there was no consensus to move forward on burden sharing.
"We have discussed solidarity at length, however, there was no agreement," Danish Justice Minister Morten Boedskov said at the end of an informal Council meeting in Copenhagen.
"I can conclude there is no support for an internal EU relocation programme suggested by the Commission. Redistribution of refugees among member states is not the solution," he said.