Migration | Government in ‘panic mode’ – Busuttil

The government had gone into panic mode and created unwarranted concer within the population, the PN leader Simon Busuttil said today.

Speaking on the Nationalist Party's radio station this morning, Busuttil said that the country needs strong leadership on migration and insisted that the country's leaders heavily influenced the people's attitude to migrants.

"If the country's leaders panic, this is reflected within the population and this week the government panicked and this created concern within the wider population," Busuttil said.

The government's actions showed immaturity, a lack of experience and a lack of preparation, Busuttil noted.

He pointed out that migrants who were at sea still reached the country's shores, however the migrants living in Malta this week faced "xenophobe if not racist attacks. "

Busuttil added that Malta's reputation in Europe was "destroyed within one week by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat."

Earlier this week, the government's decision to send back Somali migrants to Libya, hours after 102 migrants reached Malta was thwarted by the European Court of Human Rights, who declared the pushback illegal.

"The PN government always held that the EU must show more solidarity with Malta and I also personally campaigned to achieve this. In fact, Malta was granted €100 million in EU funds to patrol its boarders and deal with migration while around 700 migrants were relocated to other countries," Busuttil said.

"Was it enough? No. But you cannot expect to achieve more help by threatening the institution, which can help you. This was counter-productive," the Opposition leader said in reference to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's threat to make use of a veto if the EU does not show more solidarity.

Asked whether the Nationalist government's decision in 2002 to repatriate a group of Eritrean migrants was different, Busuttil said that the two cases were completely different since the Eritreans had been in Malta for some time and had been given the opportunity to apply for asylum.

"This week, the Somali migrants were about to be pushed back to Libya without being given a chance to apply for asylum," Busuttil said.

"And if what happened in 2002 was a mistake, surely repeating it would have been a worse decision?" 

On his defence of the agreement between Italy and Libya in 2009, Busuttil said that the bilateral agreement was abused by Italy when it overstepped its mark by pushing back migrants without granting them the opportunity to apply for asylum.

He added that the long-term solution should include helping African countries such as Somalia, which he said were in chaos.

Insisting that the EU should look at enhancing the cooperation with Libya, Busuttil said that following the recent revolution in Libya when former leader Muammar Gheddafi was overthrown, the situation in the neighbouring country was fluid.

"Libya is not in a position to offer safety guarantees and has yet to sign the Geneva Convention. Therefore it is crucial that the EU strengthens its cooperation with Libya to help stabilise the country, however it would be foolish to believe that this can be achieved overnight."

Speaking on reports that Economic Affairs Minister Chris Cardona personally intervened to change the results of a Privatisation Unit tender award, Busuttil said the government was lurching from one scandal to another and had an "everything goes" attitude.

However to threaten the people from whom one wanted more was not a good tactic. The government's actions were counter-productive.