German President Joachim Gauck yesterday refused to be drawn on the issue of migrant detention, saying Germany has not been flooded with refugees and it would be “bizarre” for him to rate Malta’s performance in handling the influx.
The head of the German state is in Malta for a State visit and will today call at the Marsa Open Centre to learn about the solutions the island had identified to tackle migration.
Replying to a question from a German journalist, he acknowledged the international criticism of Malta’s detention of migrants but added: “Wouldn’t it be slightly bizarre for the president of the largest European country to travel to the smallest European state that is dealing with an excessively high burden and say: I’m going to rate your performance?”
Germany, he said, had never been confronted with the situation Malta was facing.
It had never been “tested to the limits” and it was remarkable to learn from the Maltese government’s experience.
“I believe that Germany has done quite well in dealing with the problem of migration but to be fair, Germany has not been flooded with refugees, so we cannot claim to have found the ideal solution to the problem,” he noted.
Mr Gauck was addressing the press after a tête-à-tête with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca at the Palace in Valletta, where they exchanged gifts – a filigree karrozzin for the German President and a tea set for his Maltese counterpart.
In comments to the press, Mr Gauck said he wanted to reaffirm the strong ties between the biggest and smallest EU countries.
The meeting was held soon after the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on EU member states to adopt binding, rather than voluntary, burden sharing.
Asked by this newspaper for his views on the resolution, Mr Gauck said he could not comment on concrete policy, since his office was a non-executive one.
However, Germany was probably the most active country in Europe when it came to shouldering the burdens resulting from the influx of migrants.
It might be helpful, he added, for the German government to agree with a refugee policy with a quota system, as this would balance out the “enormous gap” between countries taking in practically no refugees and others like Sweden and Germany that took in quite a substantial number. However, this would not solve the problem as a whole, he added.
President Coleiro Preca acknowledged that Germany was the European country which took the highest number of migrants from Malta and reiterated a call for an international, holistic approach to tackle the problem.
She said the European-Mediterranean dialogue was not enough to tackle immigration as many migrants came from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Acknowledging that discussions had to include countries of origin, Mr Gauck insisted that European countries had to recognise their responsibility for the destiny and fate of migrants.
President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and German President Joachim Gauck during their exchange of gifts at the Palace in Valletta. Photo: Jason Borg