Obligatory burden sharing could have disastrous consequences for countries such as Malta as more asylum seekers would be attracted to make the treacherous journey to Europe, Dutch Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak said this evening.
Speaking during a joint news conference with Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Ms Albayrak said the immigration problem could only be solved with the cooperation of all 27 EU states.
She described Dr Mifsud Bonnici as the most active minister in the European Justice and Home Affairs council who, she said, was fighting effectively for Europe to address the immigration situation.
The Netherlands had been the first to share Malta’s problem by taking a number of immigrants but what was needed at this point was for all 27 EU states, especially those which did not have an immigration problem, to help out.
There had to be a common immigration policy in the EU and the Immigration Pact had been the first step towards this.
Asylum applications had to be assessed and processed as quickly as possible to decide who were the genuine applicants and who were not.
Ms Albayrak agreed with the proposal to set up an EU/UNHCR asylum office in Libya to help process migrants who could then be resettled in the EU.
This was what Malta was pushing for and it could be part of the solution.
On Italy’s policy to send immigrants back to Libya, Ms Albayrak said this had forced the EU to discuss the matter but repatriation should in future be done in a European framework to ensure that human rights were safeguarded. Europe, she said, had to send out the message that those who were not genuine refugees would be stopped and repatriated.
Contrary to what has been stated in reports about conditions at Malta's detention and open centres, Ms Albayrat said that although there was a lot of room for improvement, what Malta was offering was quite an achievement.
The state secretary said that although many were pessimistic and wanted things to move faster, a lot had been done in the past year and the EU was seriously moving forward on the issue but more countries needed to help out.
She said that a joint project for bilateral cooperation on immigration was being embarked upon in summer between Malta and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands had a lot of history and experience in immigration and it would assist Malta even with the provision of interpreters.
It would also support the main lines of the immigration project being proposed by European Commission vice-president Jacques Barrot next week.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici thanked Ms Albayrat for her support and said that Malta was in favour of obligatory burden sharing but the important thing was that it worked.
Ms Albayrat was taken to detention and open centres to take in the intensity of Malta’s problem.