German MEP rails against Malta’s suspension of Schengen

The chairman of the European People’s Party, German MEP Manfred Weber, has weighed in on Malta’s decision to reintroduce border controls as a security measure, claiming the reason to suspend Schengen in Malta was down to the alleged corruption in the issuing of visas and residence permits.

Malta suspended Schengen as a security measure during the Valletta Summit and again for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November.

But Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the suspension will go on due to heightened security concerns across Europe following the horrific terrorist attacks by Islamic State operatives in Paris on 13 November.

Weber and the PN’s head of delegation David Casa said that the alleged corruption in the issuance of residence permits to Libyan nationals, and other allegations of abuse in the issuance of travel visas to Algerians “raised serious questions which can have an impact on the security of the Maltese citizens as well as on the other Schengen Member States.”

Weber and Casa said the Schengen area was a major achievement of the EU and that it was up the member states to make sure that persons entering the Schengen area through their territory enter in a legal way. “Member States at the external EU border have an even higher degree of responsibility for the common safety.”