Mallia asks ministers for ‘voluntary’ responsibility-sharing of migrants

Home affairs minister Manuel Mallia told EU counterparts that no time-frame had yet been set by the Council to undertake measures identified by a task force aimed at securing the EU's Mediterranean borders from irregular migration.

The minister also called for "voluntary and coordinated" responsibility-sharing of asylum seekers, indicating a change in tone on Labour's previous calls for a mandatory burden-sharing system. 

According to a statement from the home affairs ministry, Mallia was said to have told the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council that "mechanisms for the voluntary and coordinated sharing of responsibility between Member States should be further analysed and developed" as part of a Common European Asylum System.

Mallia echoed his government's concerns with member states, claiming that the EU had "forgotten the meaning of solidarity especially with countries such as Malta which easily reach saturation point when arrivals of irregular migrants pick up at a steady pace each year."

Mallia said two relocation projects for asylum seekers in Malta were limited in effect, and that most member states had not been forthcoming in relocating asylum seekers to their countries.

"They hid behind the aspect of 'voluntariness' and forgot that beneficiaries of international protection have not voluntarily left their country and voluntarily risked their lives on land and on the sea to reach Europe," Mallia said.

"We have achieved little by way of solidarity between us, and it needs to be put there again - and this time in a more concrete manner - we cannot afford to fail to deliver on this again. We have to go further - even further than what we agreed to in the Task Force as this is meant to address longer term aims."

Despite measures being identified by the Task Force calling for the mobilisation of all efforts for their implementation within a clear timeframe, Mallia complained that no timeframe had been indicated as yet, and asked the Commission what steps it envisaged taking.

"We agreed on cooperation with third countries and put particular emphasis on Libya. We need to reflect this in our Strategic Guidelines for the future, namely, with assistance to third countries that are the main countries of origin and transit of illegal immigration into the EU," Mallia said.

Mallia also suggested more emphasis on the principle of conditionality - cooperation with countries of origin depending as to whether they accept returns of migrants to their country.

"Efforts should be made to ensure that the readmission obligations of third countries are respected. As we decided in the Task Force, these include efforts in relation to the identification and re-documentation of returnees and for an EU laissez-passer," Mallia said, saying that beneficiaries of international protection should be able to move freely in the EU.