The Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament unanimously voted last week, in favour of suspending the EU's Dublin Regulation in the case of countries which are facing disproportionate migratory pressure and also in favour of setting up of a legally binding burden-sharing mechanism enabling the reallocation of immigrants among EU countries.

The report was presented by a Dutch colleague from the Liberal group, Jeanine Hennis-Plaschaert.

I am proud to have been present for this vote and to have been among those MEPs who tabled amendments to establish a legally binding burden-sharing mechanism.

The Dublin Regulation is controversial in Malta because it places the responsibility for immigrants squarely on the EU country in which they first enter. This means that migrants first arriving, for instance, in Malta become Malta's responsibility and if they move and are apprehended in other EU countries, they are transferred back to Malta. Malta has long called for a change in these rules and changes to the Dublin regulation were formally proposed by the European Commission last December.

The Commission proposed to suspend the Dublin rules on EU countries, such as Malta, which face a disproportionate burden as a result of their geographic and demographic situation.

In its vote, the Civil Liberties Committee adopted this proposal unanimously and went further by calling on the Commission to put in place a legally binding burden-sharing instrument by the end of 2011 to enable the reallocation of migrants among EU countries.

The vote is important because the European Parliament shares co-decision powers with Council on this law and therefore its consent is required and its views cannot be ignored by the Council.

Apart from agreeing to suspend Dublin rules, the Committee also resolved that it is essential to propose legally binding instruments to ensure greater solidarity between Member States through the resettlement of the beneficiaries of international protection in other Member States.

This is a huge victory for Malta.

Last October, EU countries accepted burden-sharing in principle, albeit on a voluntary basis. Now we have obtained the European Parliament's backing to take it one step further with the establishment of a legally binding instrument.

There is no turning back. We are on the way to suspending Dublin in the case of Malta and to establishing a legally binding burden-sharing mechanism. We are still likely to face resistance but we shall persevere until we get there.

The final vote will be submitted to the plenary session of the European Parliament that will be held in Strasbourg this week.