It would not have been “the end of the world” had Malta stuck to taking in the 292 migrants originally allocated to it by the EU as part of the burden sharing agreement, according to Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela.
Mr Abela was speaking in a press briefing following Monday’s EU home affairs meeting in Brussels, during which the number of migrants allocated to Malta was reduced from 292 to 74.
Some 60 Eritrean and Syrian migrants will be relocated from Italy and Greece, while 14 others will be resettled from outside the EU.
“In reality, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world had we taken in those 292 migrants over a span of two years. In comparison to past influxes where we had taken in some 1,800 migrants, 146 in one year isn’t too many.”
Asked what prompted Malta to argue for a reduced number, Mr Abela replied that the mechanism employed by the European Commission was unbalanced.
The quota for each country was calculated on the basis of a formula factoring in its GDP, total population, migrant population and unemployment. It was Malta’s low unemployment rate which pushed up its quota, and the weighting of the different elements has been revised.
The first group of migrants is not expected to arrive before September.
Member states did not reach full agreement on a European Commission proposal to relocate 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece, but they did agree on the relocation of 32,256.
Mr Abela described the agreement as a step forward, marking a shift in the way member states view migration in the Mediterranean since his first council meeting as minister seven months ago.
Migrants who have not been granted international protection and who have been issued a return decision were an issue across all EU member states, he said.
Every member state agreed that the rate of returns should be improved.
The issue, Mr Abela added, boiled down to obtaining the necessary documentation from countries of origin, which were often uncooperative, and organising flights to transport migrants back.
Different member states had different relations with third countries, he said, citing the Netherlands’ good relationship with Senegal, which Malta lacked.