The 102 irregular migrants who were stranded on the oil tanker Salamis, which had rescued them, have (finally) been taken to a safe port. Malta resolved the issue through diplomatic channels. Joseph Muscat will be popularly lauded for his defiant stand that the vessel should not be permitted to bring them to the island. We should all be happy, right?
To an extent, yes. This was not like the controversy Dr Muscat got himself into some weeks ago when he threatened to send back migrants on a chartered aircraft just after they landed in Malta and were attempting to exercise their right to claim asylum.
From the information to hand, in this case it appears that the migrants were picked up – thankfully, it must be said, or else they would have perished (some Maltese do not care but that is for their own misguided state to resolve) – in an area that was closer to Libya than to Malta.
Reports are conflicting but the Maltese Government is insisting that, at this point, the captain of the tanker was told that the nearest safe port was Libya and, therefore, he must take them there and make arrangements with the competent local authorities to have the migrants disembark without further delay.
The captain refused to heed this instruction and, as he was en route to Syracuse, proceeded to head to Malta until he was intercepted by an Armed Forces of Malta vessel. What then followed was hours and hours of political and legal wrangling.
The European Union waded in, with the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström saying on Tuesday that Malta was in duty bound to admit the migrants – who reportedly included an injured woman, four pregnant women and a five-month-old baby – on humanitarian grounds.
While the insulting and obscene remarks that were posted on her Facebook page by a number of Maltese internet users are condemnable, embarrassing and wholly out of place, Ms Malmström was not in the strongest position to pass such a remark.
One, the EU is hardly in a position to preach duties and solidarity when it comes to the migrant issue since its member states have displayed very little. Two, she knowingly and willingly cast aside the (still unresolved) argument over whether the ship’s captain should have complied with the instruction to take them to Libya. A definitive pronouncement (not by the EU) on the status of Libya as a safe port or otherwise is vital because this issue may arise again in the near future.
However, though Dr Muscat deserves credit for resolving this issue with the assistance of the Italian Prime Minister, some worrying considerations remain.
One, what is the next passing ship going to do when it spots a boatload of migrants who are about to become the next tragedy in the Mediterranean? Sail on by?
Two, agreeing to take in this group of migrants without accepting legal responsibility, on purely humanitarian grounds, may have given him leverage with the EU.
Three, and perhaps most importantly, the tough guy approach, amplified by inflammatory headlines in L-Orizzont, is causing long-term collateral damage.
The Prime Minister is very believable when he dissociates himself from either the abuse posted on a Facebook page or the vile demonstrations organised by those who pose as concerned citizens. But the fact remains that they are following his lead and taking it to an extreme.
Granted, it’s an extreme he does not wish for. It’s an extreme we certainly do not wish to see either. But it is there and we have a problem.