Europe must “rethink” its asylum and migration policies in the wake of the Libyan crisis, according to Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil.
“I think we are learning lessons from what is happening in Arab countries that will help us deliver a better migration policy,” he said during a 45-minute live chat on Facebook organised by the European Parliament.
Asked whether he regretted supporting Italy’s push-back policy, where boatloads of asylum-seekers were directed back to Libya, he said: “I was not part of that agreement but I did think that illegal routes should be stopped because it is illegal.”
Pointing out he was among the first Maltese politicians to denounce Muammar Gaddafi, he told his Facebook audience: “Whatever we may think of him today, at the time Gaddafi was an accepted part of the international community. Things changed however, when he turned his guns on his people. That is when he became illegitimate.”
Less than a year ago, Dr Busuttil had labelled critics of the push-back policy as “hypocrites” because they were not providing alternatives.
“Now that the situation has changed, yes, I think we should also rethink our asylum and migration policies. In fact, the EU is in the process of establishing a common asylum policy by 2012. Why are we not there yet? Simple, because this is a highly controversial subject and it is difficult to get everyone to agree on it. But we are working on it.”
Dr Busuttil said Col Gaddafi’s departure would enable the situation to return to normal and ease the fears and dangers leading many people to flee Libya. However, he conceded the migration flows from places like Somalia would continue.
Rather than stopping the flows, he said the EU should find a way to deal with them in an organised manner: sharing the burden among countries, dealing with emergency situations and continuing development in Africa.
“Europe needs migration”, he said. “(But) I do not like the way we allow illegal routes to operate. They benefit criminal networks and a lot of people drown. But we can change this by offering a legal route to migrants that we need in our labour market in any case.”
He said thousands of migrants were already reaching Lampedusa (from Tunisia) and the EU must prepare for the eventuality of a mass exodus.
“We cannot start thinking about it when it happens. Frontex has a role to play here but it needs to rely on the human and technical resources of the member states.”
Besides Frontex missions, Dr Busuttil said “the real work” was in helping countries like Tunisia and Egypt make a success out of their transition to democracy and reduce the need for people to leave their country.
Dr Busuttil said although many EU countries had long felt migration was not their problem, perception was now changing thanks to the Libyan crisis.
“People even from the north of Europe are interested and feel the urge to share in what is happening. Either way, we need to convince everyone this is not Italy’s problem alone. It is everyone’s responsibility.”