German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle chose his words very carefully when commenting on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s request for €5 billion from the EU to help it contain illegal migration to Europe, insisting the issue had to be resolved in a bilateral way.
“It was a request by a head of state of an important country and we will look into it,” he said in a very diplomatic tone, during a press conference with Maltese counterpart Tonio Borg this morning.
Dr Westerwelle is in Malta on a one-day visit for talks with Dr Borg on a number of bilateral issues.
President Gaddafi made his request on Monday during a state visit to Italy. He said Libya needed €5 billion a year to stop illegal immigrants from Africa entering the EU through its southern border. Malta has supported Libya’s request.
“I hesitate to comment in a concrete way because I do not want reactions that can have consequences. It is the EU’s common interest and responsibility to solve this in a bilateral way,” Mr Westerwelle said.
Talks between Dr Borg and Dr Westerwelle also focused on Kosovo’s declaration of independence with both countries insisting this was a closed chapter.
Dr Borg said Malta would support Kosovo’s independence in an upcoming UN meeting while the German Foreign Minister said it was necessary to close the book on the territorial integrity of states in the western Balkans for lasting peace.
They also discussed a number of bilateral issues including immigration and the need to convince other EU states that discipline in budgets was important for the stability of the euro and the Union.
Dr Westerwelle said that he talked with American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton yesterday evening during which she reported a positive start to the Middle East peace talks in Washington.
“I am impressed that the start was very successful and it is important that we all support this process,” he said urging all parties to create the circumstances for success.
Dr Borg reiterated the excellent bilateral relations between Germany and Malta and said that German has supported Malta on a number of political matters over the years.
He noted that some 50 manufacturing German companies operated in Malta, employing around 2,240 employees.
In the past five years, 14 German companies set up new operations and 17 German companies already located here utilised incentives offered by Malta Enterprise to expand their operations.
Dr Borg thanked Germany for its support in dealing with the influx of refugees over the past years.
Germany, he said, has recognised the disproportionate burden being carried by Malta taking 31 refugees from Malta.
It also decided to participate in the EU-Pilot Project on Refugee Resettlement and will be resettling 100 refugees from Malta.
On education, the Foreign Minister said joint projects were recently established between MCAST and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, one of the largest and most innovative scientific group of institutes worldwide, as well as the Max-Born College located in Recklinghausen in creating joint vocational training programmes.