The debate in Parliament on illegal immigration, reported in The Times of June 10, showed that our politicians of both sides still harbour a naïve hope in Europe. Frontex has come but the inflow of illegal immigrants has not stopped. Endless talks have been held with Italy, which has no doubt expressed its sympathy; but we are seeing Italian vessels bringing illegal immigrants to our shores. We have heard about burden sharing, but received only token responses from our EU partners. We have heard of the return directive, which is supposed to organise the repatriation of illegal immigrants from EU countries back to their countries of origin; but so far we have seen nothing significant coming from it.

In the meantime, the parliamentary debate harped on the criticism Malta has received from Amnesty International and Médécins Sans Frontieres. The persons behind both organisations are Europeans, which means that our partners have been more generous with their criticism than with their help. The report by Amnesty International even contains factual inaccuracies, as the government has said in its press release. So what? The report can still be accessed and read - unchanged - on the AI website. As for Médécins Sans Frontieres, their agenda is questionable. Doctors are meant to help, heal and hopefully cure. They do not usually publish reports; but it seems that for Médécins Sans Frontieres playing politics is as important as the practice of medicine.

The report of the parliamentary debate makes rather pathetic reading because it shows that our leaders do not have any idea as to how to solve a problem that is ballooning into a crisis. Complaining about the problem is enough for the man in the street, but we expect better from our leaders - unless, that is, they think that waiting for Europe is a solution.