'Do not get tougher on migrants' - Beppe Fenech Adami
Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami urges government to stand firm and not give in to pressures to be tougher on migrants in Malta.
Sectors of the electorate are demanding government to act differently and be tougher with migrants living in Malta, Beppe Fenech Adami said in Parliament this afternoon.
"I appeal to the minister responsible for migration not to give in to pressures by who wants to sow seeds of hatred against migrants living in Malta," Fenech Adami said. He called on the government to dispel extremist views and show solidarity to vulnerable people.
While urging the government to maintain the previous government's stance at a European level in regards to Malta's position in terms of migration, Fenech Adami called on the government "not to give in to pressures" to be tough on migrants.
The Nationalist Opposition's decision to vote for the 2013 Budget was not a vote of confidence in the new Labour government but the PN was only being consistent, MP Beppe Fenech Adami noted.
Speaking in Parliament this afternoon, Fenech Adami said that the Opposition was voting in favour of the budget because the party believed that the budget originally presented by former PN minister Tonio Fenech had to be implemented.
On the other hand the "opportunist" Labour Party had conveniently voterd against the budget in December but was now presenting the same budget, he added.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat claimed that the Opposition's vote in favour of the budget translated into a vote of confidence in his administration.
Turning to the justice sector, the former home affairs parliamentary secretary described the home affairs and justice ministry led by Manuel Mallia as a "mega ministry," and challenged the minister to explain why the Public Broadcasting Services was also included in his portfolio.
"The government is not motivated by ideology but by populism and convenience, practicing a scratch my back and I'll scratch yours attitude," Fenech Adami said, adding that despite "savagely tearing into the previous government's decision to have justice and home affairs grouped together in one ministry, the new government went on to have the two portfolios grouped together." .
Fenech Adami, touted for the vacant PN deputy leadership post said the Labour government was appointing persons in the justice sector, courts and the police corps who had lent Labour a helping hand during the electoral campaign.
"I hope that important posts in the police corps are not adjudicated according to the faces which endorsed the Labour Party in the electoral campaign," he said.
One of the persons who appeared on Labour's billboards was MEPA officer Audrey Harrison, married to assistant police commissioner Neil Harrison.
He added that the principle of meritocracy which was one of Labour's battlecries in the electoral campaign had already been thrown out of the window by the new government, judging by appointments made in the police corps.
The next MP to address the House was former justice and home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, who resigned in 2012 following a vote of no confidence, stressed the importance of fast screening processes of migrants.
He added that migrants "should always be treated with dignity and respect," underlining the vulnerability of migrants who reach our shores.
Describing the home affairs ministry as "a mega aircraft carrier" Mifsud Bonnici urged home affairs minister Manuel Mallia to implement reforms cautiously.
He also said that the pairing of justice and home affairs within the same ministry, vindicated the PN's decision to have the two portfolios grouped together.