Europe needed a “fair” asylum policy to respond properly to large influxes of migrants as it was already caught unprepared, European Commission vice president Jyrki Katainen said.

“We have to keep our heart warm, we have to carry our human responsibility towards these people but we must also find practical solutions… like a fair asylum policy,” he said. “In this way, those who deserve protection would get it as soon as possible and those who don’t should be sent back.”

He was speaking at a joint news conference with Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech at the Auberge D’Aragon, in Valletta yesterday.

Mr Katainen was in Malta for talks as part of a tour promoting the €315 billion EU Investment Plan, the flagship project of the European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker.

Asked about the immigration crisis gripping central and Eastern Europe, Mr Katainen echoed the calls made by Malta and Italy for a global solution.

He said the issue had to be treated on three fronts: international, European and national.

On the international front, he called for more efforts to stabilise the political situation in certain countries like Syria, from where thousands of civilians are being forced to escape.

On a European and national level, he said there had to be a fair asylum policy to speed up the processing of refugee status applications and, if necessary, deport those who did not deserve protection.

In this way those who deserve protection should get it as soon as possible and those who don’t should be sent back

Mr Grech announced that talks with Brussels on the setting up of a development bank were in the final stages. The all-clear by the Commission was expected in a few months’ time. The Malta Development Bank aims to support risk financing, in the form of guarantees, loans or equity, to cover the financial impact of a business’s unexpected losses.

Rather than competing with commercial banks, the idea is to provide risk financing services and pave the way for more investment by the private sector, Mr Grech stressed. He noted that, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, access to risk financing became an issue due to the tighter safeguards introduced on banks.

Mr Grech said the bank would address “a market failure” in the Maltese scenario.

Apart from this bank, Malta has also proposed a number of projects in the health and transportation sectors to be eligible for funding under the investment plan.

Mr Katainen also had talks with Opposition leader Simon Busuttil at his office in Parliament when issues related to migration featured prominently.