Migrants should be taken to the closest port of call, even if they were saved in the search and rescue zone of a neighbouring country, according to former home affairs and foreign minister Tonio Borg.

“This is the policy adopted by successive governments and Malta should stick to its guns,” Dr Borg said.

“If an Indian vessel rescues migrants 20 miles off the Lampedusa coast, it would make no sense bringing them to a Maltese port which is 100 miles away,” he added. 

Tonio Borg: “Malta only takes the migrants if they are closer to a Maltese port than that of any other country.” Photo: Chris Sant FournierTonio Borg: “Malta only takes the migrants if they are closer to a Maltese port than that of any other country.” Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The Sunday Times of Malta sought Dr Borg’s views following the remarks made on Friday by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

Mr Salvini denounced the Maltese authorities for allegedly refusing to provide assistance or to take in any migrants. Despite Malta being geographically closer to Africa, more often than not migrants were being taken in by Italy, he complained. 

However, in a terse statement the Maltese government denied Italy’s claim saying it was adhering to all of its obligations. Nonetheless, the diplomatic spat fuelled concerns that migrants caught in distress from now onwards may be left stranded with neither country wanting to budge from its position. 

Such incidents increased whenever the right-wing League party was in government

Asked for his reaction, Dr Borg, who also was a European Commissioner from 2012 to 2013, said that Malta was obliged to manage its immense search and rescue zone. Spread over an area of 250,000 square kilometres, the zone is roughly the size of the UK.  It stretches along 600 nautical miles from the Tunisian coast to Crete and is 130 nautical miles wide.

“However, this does not mean that Malta has to take all migrants saved within this area. Malta only takes the migrants if they are closer to a Maltese port than that of any other country. This was the policy adopted by successive governments.”

Dr Borg recalled that a few years ago the international community had changed the Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, so that the country responsible for the search and rescue zone is also obliged to take the migrants. However, he pointed out that Malta had not signed the revised convention while Italy did.

He urged the Maltese government to stick to this position adopted by successive governments, which, he said, was backed by sound legal advice.

Dr Borg, who is also a former deputy prime minister, said he was not in a position to say if, following the election of the Labour Party to government in 2013, there had been  some sort of agreement, informal or not, regulating the rescue of migrants between Italy and Malta.

Italian right-wing parties had claimed that such an agreement was linked to Italy being given oil exploration rights in return for taking in migrants. Both countries have denied such a claim, even though arrivals of migrants in Malta stopped practically overnight.

Asked if he subscribed to concerns that Italy’s hardline stance on immigration could fuel further tensions, Dr Borg noted that such incidents increased whenever the right-wing League party was in government.

“When the PN was in government before 2013, and Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici was Malta’s home affairs minister, the same attitude was adopted by the then interior minister Roberto Maroni,” he said.

Mr Salvini’s outburst was made after Malta reportedly refused to come to the aid of the German migrant rescue ship Seefuchs, which was stranded with 119 migrants on board in the Mediterranean due to rough weather.

In his reaction the Italian minister had harsh words for NGOs carrying out migrant rescues in the Mediterranean, accusing them of being little more of a “taxi service”.

Mr Salvini, who was elected on the pledge of taking a hard stand against migration, also called for Nato’s help to defend its southern shores.

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