Malta's strong stand against an EU proposal to give long-term residence rights to refugees forced the French EU presidency to delay its plans to steer a political agreement among the 27 member states on the matter.
Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who intervened during the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday, reiterated the island's opposition.
"Malta cannot in any way accept this proposal. We made our point clearly and diplomatically and this was understood by our counterparts, including the Commission and the presidency," he said after the meeting.
The proposal as designed will put immense pressure on Malta and the country cannot increase its migration problem over and above what it already had, he insisted.
Tabled by the European Commission last year, the proposals introduce an amendment to the EU's Long-Term Residence Directive, entitling refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection (humanitarian status) to long term-residence permits after five years living in an EU member state. This would entitle refugees to the same equal rights as EU citizens in a wide range of social and economic matters. For Malta this would translate into issuing permits to 2,300 refugees already on the island.
EU Council sources said that although Cyprus had adopted a similar stance as Malta, Dr Mifsud Bonnici was the only minister venting his opposition openly. Cyprus did not take the floor during Thursday's meeting.
"We understand the island's position and, following the meeting, we will now have to deal with Malta to see whether a compromise can be reached over the issue," the sources said. The proposal is now stalled and it will probably be the Czech presidency that will have to deal with this impasse, the sources added.
Malta has been objecting on the basis that it cannot afford to grant permanent residence status to all refugees coming to Malta due to its geographical position and dimension.
While in Brussels, Dr Mifsud Bonnici also attended the first Quadro meeting, held on the margins of the Justice Council, which brought together Malta, Italy, Greece and Cyprus to discuss a common strategy on migration.
He described the meeting as being very positive. It was agreed, he said, that technical teams will meet in the coming weeks to discuss a Maltese proposal to put forward to the Council of Ministers.
The proposal deals with how the EU could start implementing the Migration and Asylum Pact agreed last month.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici was accompanied at the meeting by Malta's Permanent Representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana.