The Maltese government is supporting an Italian proposal to set up reception centres to process migrants in the north of Africa.
Asked for his reaction to the Italian proposal, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said the government viewed the concept positively though he argued that there was no concrete proposal and that the issue was expected to be discussed when it was brought up at the Council of Ministers in Brussels.
The idea, floated internally by the Italian government, could see the EU partner with North African states such as Egypt and Tunisia by setting up asylum-processing offices in these countries for migrants seeking asylum in Europe.
That would give migrants who have a case for obtaining asylum the option of avoiding attempting the sea journey.
The EU would also train their border agencies in search and rescue missions, for instance. Once rescued, the migrants would be taken to the ports of the country saving them or sent back to their countries of origin.
The proposal marked a break within the political outlook adopted by the Italian government on the subject of migration, diplomatic sources told Times of Malta. After taking charge of migration on the central Mediterranean route almost single-handedly with the Mare Nostrum operation last year, Rome has been keen to “outsource” the management of the phenomenon to African states. The Italian government is arguing that this shift would serve as a deterrent.
However, questions are already being raised about the practicality of the proposal seeing as the main hub of migrants’ departures, Libya, is in no state to secure its borders, much less set up processing centres. The proposals are now being considered as part of a new European policy that should be drafted by May.
Speaking about this initiative, Mr Abela said Malta appreciated the effort of Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Greek European Commissioner for Migration, to develop a European agenda on migration in a relatively short time.
The commissioner was in Malta only last week as part of this process. But besides appreciating his personal commitment to the area, Mr Abela said he had sensed a shift at the last month’s meeting of European home affairs ministers.
“Europe obviously does not only get irregular migration from the Mediterranean; there’s the Western Balkans route, for instance, that is of concern to member states from the north,” he said, adding: “I felt at the last EU meeting of ministers that the Mediterranean and the situation in Libya was getting more attention than before.”
The route through the hills of Greece, Macedonia and Serbia and into Europe through the Balkans saw the numbers of migrants grow from a few thousands before 2012 to more than 40,000 last year. In the first two months of 2015, a total of 27,000 have already crossed. However, with the security meltdown in Tripoli, many stakeholders are predicting an apocalyptic scenario for the Mediterranean this summer with a record number of people dying. In the first quarter of this year, nearly 500 migrants drowned or 10 times as many as in the same period of 2014.
On this point, Mr Abela insists that Malta is doing its part and says that, even though far fewer migrants are landing on the islands, the Armed Forces of Malta are constantly supporting the Italian navy and Frontex operations out at sea.
However, the subject always goes back to the question of solidarity.
“We are pushing for a commitment by member states on the principle of solidarity and the sharing of responsibility. The time has come for solidarity to stop being a slogan and become a concrete action, seeing as migration is becoming a challenge for the whole of Europe,” he said.
That is what the policy proposal by the European Commission is meant to tackle in May in a comprehensive policy for the area. The question is whether the developing situation can wait for the governments meeting in Brussels to find a solution for the short term as well as dreaming of ways to manage the long term.