Malta needs European action in efforts on irregular immigration – Metsola

MEP Roberta Metsola said that the pressures that Malta is facing in dealing with illegal immigration "can be eased by coherent, holistic European action."

Metsola, has recently been appointed on a cross-party, high-level delegation of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee of European Parliament, which will visit Malta to discuss irregular immigration at the end of this month.

The Nationalist MEP said that "together with the European People's Party, I have tried very hard to get this visit off the ground and am very pleased that our efforts have paid off. It is an excellent opportunity for us to show MEPs, from across the political spectrum, just what the situation on the ground in Malta actually is and to again put across our point that the pressures faced by Malta due to irregular immigration can and should be eased by coherent, holistic European action."

Reserving special praise for the actions of Malta's Armed Forces "who risk their lives to save others in every one of these operations", Metsola said that the events in the Mediterranean in recent days have shown how urgent European action in this regard is.

In the past week, two tragic incidents have left hundreds of migrants dead at sea, with the latest incident yesterday causing the death of around 50 persons as they tried to reach Europe by sea.

Metsola said the LIBE visit is "crucial" to provide MEPs a first-hand experience of the situation in countries on the periphery of Europe that faced the responsibility of dealing with immigration influxes, such as Malta.

Addressing the European Parliament in the wake of the tragedy in Lampedusa earlier this week, Metsola appealed for a move away from populism to concrete action and proposed a series of measures that the EU and its Member States should focus on to deal with irregular immigration.

"One idea would be to look further at the setting up an EU Joint Processing Centre in North Africa itself that will allow for asylum claims to be assessed already in North Africa and those genuine cases that are granted protection or refugee status will be distributed in an equal and fair manner among all Member States, including Malta. That way people will not need to make the journey in sinking boats because they will already have the option of applying for asylum in Africa. It is a bold idea, and one we need to explore further," Metsola said.

Among other measures to strengthen the fight against organised crime and bring Libya to the table, Metsola said that the EU must dedicate more development aid to countries trying to get back on their feet and continued to push for legislation that makes Member States step up to the plate and fairly share the responsibility of those already in Europe.

"There is still need to reform the Dublin II regulation that is the source of such disparity between Member States and places so much pressure on the those States, like Malta", she added.

The delegation will visit Malta between 29 and 30 October and will also include Austrian and Dutch MEPs from the Socialists (S&D) and the Liberals (ALDE) groups in the European Parliament. The MEPs are expected to hold talks with different stakeholders in Malta and will also hold a dialogue open to the Maltese public.