Muscat insists on 'high level of scrutiny' at Maltese consulate in Algeria

The Maltese consulate in Algeria processes visas with the utmost scrutiny and has actually been criticized by the Algerian government for processing them too harshly, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

“The level of scrutiny is so high that even Algerians who are issued a visa are sent straight back to Algeria if Maltese airport officials detect anything suspicious,” he said in Parliament.

He denied claims by the Opposition that the government has been contacted by the French government over concerns that the consulate was being used to issue Schengen visas that allowed the recipients entry into France.

He was responded to Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami, who had questioned how the Maltese consulate in Algeria issued 6,748 visas to Algerian citizens, since it started its visa operations in March 2014.

“The foreign affairs minister [George Vella] has said that only half of the visa applications were accepted, but how is it possible that the consulate issued so many visas in under a year?” Busuttil asked in his speech.

“Is it true that Air Malta aeroplanes fly to Algeria empty but return to Malta full?” he questioned. “Is the prime minister concerned that there could be abuse in the issuance of visas?”

Fenech Adami had said that Malta and Algeria aren’t popular holiday destinations for their respective populations, so much so that Algerian tourists don’t appear as a separate category on Malta Tourism Authrity statistics.

However, Muscat retorted that interest in Maltese visas has surged since Air Malta recently opened new routes to Algeria.

In 2007, [former prime minister] Eddie Fenech Adami visited Algeria and spoke of the need to strengthen links between the two countries,” he said about Beppe Fenech Adami’s father. “What better way to strengthen links than to improve flight connections?”

He said that the Opposition report any cases of alleged abuse to the police, and rejected Fenech Adami’s call to answer how many cases of abuse have already been filed to the police.

“It is not within my competence to ask the Police Commissioner for such information,” he said, insisting that he forwards all reports that reach his office about alleged visa abuse to the police.

‘Valletta summit will focus on return of ineligible asylum seekers’

Muscat said that an international summit that will be held in Valletta next month to discuss the EU’s refugee crisis will focus on developing mechanisms through which ineligible asylum seekers will be sent back to their country of origin.

“Returning ineligible asylum seekers is not easy, given that many of them reach Europe’s shores without any documentation,” he said.

He suggested that a potential solution could involve the creation of European identification documents – the legitimacy of which will be recognized by African countries - that will be handed to ineligible asylum seekers once their nationality is confirmed.