Reintroducing border controls within the EU would be “a great step backwards”, according to Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who yesterday appeared to describe Italy’s rhetoric on migration as “trash”.
“The political scenario in Europe has been complicated uselessly with this type of mentality. What is happening between Italy and France is shameful for the whole of Europe... This is trash. It is just the wrong way of doing politics,” he said after Labour’s migration spokesman, Michael Falzon, said Italy did well to defend its national interest.
The government later said Dr Mifsud Bonnici used the word “trash” to refer to the line being taken by the Labour opposition and not to any particular country.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici had also referred to the decision taken by France and Italy to propose reform to Europe’s Schengen Treaty. Their agreement came about after Italy infuriated France by issuing temporary visas to migrants, allowing them to travel to other EU countries.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the “irresponsible” rhetoric of the Labour Party, and certain right-wing parties in Italy, was all too similar to that of “certain German and Italian leaders at the time of World War II”.
“We should not lose the argument by putting the materialistic dimension before the humanitarian dimension,” he insisted, as Dr Falzon strongly objected to being compared to Nazis and Fascists.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he wanted to sound the alarm loudly because he felt the PL was simply speaking this way because far right parties in Europe had attracted former communist voters through their migration rhetoric.
They were speaking at a debate, themed Dealing With The Libyan Migration Crisis, held by Allied Newspapers at Intercontinental Hotel.
The UN’s refugee agency was represented on the debate panel by Jon Hoiseater, who said he did not think Malta or Europe was experiencing a migration crisis from Libya as yet. He said Malta was already receiving support from some countries but the more the numbers grew, the more support would be required.
Dr Falzon reiterated his party’s stance that Malta must be tougher with politicians but not let migrants drown. However, when pressed for solutions by moderator Herman Grech, deputy editor of The Sunday Times, he said it was up to the government to find solutions, not the opposition.
Questioned about Malta’s approval of Italy’s push-back policy, where it returned migrants to Libya over the past few years, Dr Falzon said this was the only policy that worked for Malta. Although he agreed it was morally questionable, he said it was on another country’s conscience because Malta was not part of the agreement.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the context of the time was different because then there was a stable government in Libya trying to open up to the West. “Who would’ve thought there would be a civil war in Libya,” he asked.
The debate also focused on Malta’s conditions in detention and open centres, with Mr Hoiseater complaining that women and children were being kept in tents in an industrial hangar.
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said detention conditions had improved but admitted that, at one point, the conditions were worse in Malta than those in detention centres in Tripoli.
NGOs took the opportunity to criticise Malta’s detention policy but both the government and the opposition insisted this was a correct and legal policy.
The debate was attended by more than 100 individuals, including a migrant who was successfully relocated to Germany and returned to thank the Maltese people who helped him throughout his life.
A Libyan man also attended, saying his son was stuck in Tripoli and was not being issued a visa because of a “Microsoft” hitch at the Foreign Office in Libya. He appealed for the minister’s intervention.
Former Ambassador to Libya George Saliba warned that while third country nationals were arriving in Malta, the real problem could begin after the Libyan civil war ended because the losing side was likely to flee the country en masse.