The presidents of the European Council and European Parliament will address Parliament on the eve of the Valletta Summit on Migration next month.
This was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as he made a ministerial statement about the latest European Council held on October 15.
Besides migration and the situation in the Middle East, the council debated Britain’s plans for a referendum on EU membership and discussed the upcoming UN conference on climate change.
Parliament was informed that the UK would submit its requests to the EU in November and by the following month there could be some indications of where its demands were converging with the Union’s views.
It was expected that the Commonwealth declaration, following CHOGM, would contribute significantly to the works of the COP21, the UN conference on climate change to be held in December in Paris, Dr Muscat said.
He said the debate about the refugee crisis was at the heart of the council meeting. The European Commission was tasked with preparing a set of proposals for the improvement of border management, aiming towards the gradual development of the integrated management of European frontiers.
This effort had to be supported by the development of return programmes for persons who did not qualify for protection, as well as by enhanced co-operation with third countries.
Replying to questions from the Opposition about the criteria to measure the success of the summit on migration and Libya, the Prime Minister identified concrete steps being taken on repatriation and referred to a proposal to issue migrants with European documentation in order to facilitate the return efforts.
This should be complemented by the application of the more-for-more principle on the basis of the Cotonou Agreement, promoting performance-based partnerships rather than aid entitlements.
The situation in Libya was a fluctuating one, but Dr Muscat said that most Libyans were in favour of an agreement being struck between the governments. However, minorities, propped up by foreign powers, were holding back this step.
He asked if it would be opportune for the international community to signal that it would be willing to work with the majority on both sides who wanted to form a quasi-national Libyan government.