Alternattiva Demokratika today welcomed statements by EU Commission Presidential hopefuls Jean Claude Juncker and Martin Schultz that they will take into serious consideration the provision of legal means for immigrants to enter Europe without having to do so in an illegal or irregular way.

In a statement, chairman Arnold Cassola said that this was what the Greens had been proposing for a number of years.

"It is a pity that such proposals were not inserted black on white in the EPP and Socialist manifestos for the European elections but are only mentioned now at the last moment by Schultz and Juncker," he said.

Deputy chairman Carmel Cacopardo said the migration problem should be seen as a European issue and not as a national one.

Individual countries had to abandon their nationalistic, egoistic approach to the issue and start agreeing on a common European approach.

"It is most heartening to hear Martin Schultz saying that migration should be the responsibility of the whole European Union and not only of the frontier countries, like Malta, Italy or Greece.

"It is now the task of Schultz or Juncker, if and when elected, to ensure that the 28 Prime Ministers of Europe, most of them coming from the EPP or Socialist families, listen to what the two Presidential candidates are proposing and start implementing this common European migration policy, which is the only way in which this serious issue can be tackled," he said.