The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee has suggested that member states volunteering to receive refugees sheltered by non-EU countries should receive up to €6,000 from the EU refugee fund per person resettled.
The incentive is being offered to member states to address the fact that the EU contributed to only 6.7 per cent of the global resettlement of refugees in 2008, with 4,378 individuals. The UN Refugee Agency estimates that 747,000 are in need of resettlement.
The funds would not be available to countries taking refugees from member states such as Malta. But the Home Affairs Ministry said the financial incentives being offered to member states to take refugees from outside the EU would still help the country.
"It would create an incentive for member states to increase resettlement directly from third countries. This should result in fewer refugees willing to cross over to Europe," a ministry spokesman said.
During the debate, MEPs on the Civil Liberties Committee also repeated their call for assistance to member states facing special pressures. They pointed out that in May 2009, the EP had called for a scheme for relocation within the EU that must "absolutely be implemented in future".
The Home Affairs Ministry acknowledged that this would be of particular benefit to Malta and to beneficiaries of international protection currently in the country.
Malta has been actively pursuing the resettlement of beneficiaries of international protection in Malta, and since 2005 a number of member states have responded to the call. But the overall response has been lukewarm at best.
The government said it believed that in the face of the current imbalance in the asylum responsibilities across the EU, as well as the disproportionate pressures borne by member states like Malta, an ongoing EU mechanism for the resettlement of beneficiaries of international protection was a necessity.
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, who took part in the parliamentary debate on the matter, said: "The Malta Pilot Project has been less effective than one would have wished because of insufficient take-up. Nevertheless, it still remains an important development and a good start."
He told The Sunday Times the Malta Pilot Project should be made more effective and developed into a proper Intra-EU Resettlement Programme, adding that he expected the Commission to announce a programme for support of southern member states later this year.