Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil told the Swedish Minister for Immigration, Tobias Billstrom the EU should first deliver what it promised to do months ago on the Asylum and Immigration Pact before embarking on new projects in this field.
Dr Busuttil was speaking during a meeting of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee that heard a presentation on the plans of the Swedish EU Presidency for the coming six months in the area of migration.
One of the measures adopted in the pact was a pilot project on burden sharing specifically tailored for Malta. Dr Busuttil, who is also the European People's Party's main spokesman on migration, called on the Swedish Presidency to take concrete measures in immigration policy.
The Swedish Presidency is proposing a new long-term working programme for the entire area of freedom, justice and security for the next five years under what is being called the Stockholm Programme.
However, Dr Busuttil, who leads the EPP group in the committee, insisted that in the prevailing circumstances it was essential to deliver what had already been agreed. "...We need to ask ourselves just how effective Europe has been in stemming this tide. The honest answer to this question is that Europe has not been half as effective as we want it to be."
Dr Busuttil listed four areas where he expected concrete results from the Swedish Presidency by the end of the year, namely co-ordinated initiatives to return illegally-staying migrants, securing the co-operation of third countries such as Libya, solidarity instruments to help southern EU member states and an agreement on the establishment of the European Asylum Support Office.
Mr Billstrom affirmed the Presidency's support for a well-managed immigration policy and noted that, while measures taken needed to ensure that genuine asylum seekers had access to the asylum system, solidarity also had to be shown with EU countries at the borders that were facing excessive burdens.
He announced that he would be travelling to Libya later this month for talks with his Libyan counterpart.
On Malta, he said he understood the island's situation well because he had recently visited the country. The Swedish Presidency supported the pilot project that would help resettle protected migrants from Malta to other EU countries and wanted it up and running as soon as possible.
He said the European Asylum Support Office should be fast tracked so that it would, hopefully, be established by the end of this year.