.png)
.jpg)
.png)
Mifsud Bonnici crosses swords with Swedes over dismissal of migratory problem from Libya
Swedes give indication that joint burden-sharing will not be achieved.
Malta's home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici is engaged in a 'spat' with his Swedish counterpart over the latter's claims that Malta and Italy are overstating the possibility of a migratory influx of asylum seekers from Libya.
Earlier in the day, Swedish minister Tobias Billstrom alleged that Mediterranean countries were exaggerating and being alarmist about possibility of an influx of asylum seekers from Libya, in comments he gave to the media in Brussels where a European council meeting is taking place.
A government spokesperson told MaltaToday that Mifsud Bonnici strongly dismissed earlier comments by Billstrom alleging Mifsud Bonnici claimed that there are already strong indications that the flow of migrants in the Mediterranean will be higher than in previous years.
Intervening in the debate, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said that if a migratory movement from Libya were to start, he expected to see more solidarity and better burden sharing between member states. This will hold truer if the country descends into civil war.
Earlier in the day, The Times reported commentsby the Interior Ministers of Austria and Sweden indicating that there will be no consensus among the 27 member states on the establishment of an immediate burden sharing mechanism for asylum seekers as demanded by six Southern Mediterranean member states, including Malta, in the wake of the current turmoil.
Calling Italy’s request for burden sharing as “an exaggeration”, Bilstrom said that last year his country received 32,000 asylum seekers. “We did not call upon anyone to share the burden with us,” he said in a direct snub at Italy’s request.
“Italy has only received 5000 immigrants from Tunisia at Lampedusa and we think that it can cope on its own with this situation,” he said.
Asked whether his country will help Malta and Italy in the case of a Libyan exodus, he said that this has not happened yet. “With regards to Libya we have not seen any biblical exodus yet so let’s not be so alarmist,” he said.
bob •
My previous comment was directed to swedish minister Tobias Billstrom.
Michael Gauci •
Why dont Libyans go east or west to find shelter with their muslim brothers, why come to the land of the infidel?
bob •
This maniac imbecile should be declared “A PERSONA NON GRATA” by the Maltese Government.
•
If it happens and hundreds of refugees come to our shores the solution is simple, give them all a Maltese passport and am sure then that they will gladly travel on to Europe.Who in their right mind would want to stay on a corrupt country more corrupt then the one they left behind ?
•
Dear Maltese people,
Kindly accept the fact that you were accepted in the European Union just to be its dustbin and dumping ground.
Sincerely,
Tobias Billstrom
•
You can tell the Swedish minister, that it is not a problem, we will send them all to Sweden when they arrive.
What does a Swedish minister know about these matters, when we have as a nation greta experience of war & turmoil. Not true of Sweden.
Rob
Pauline Moran •
Prosit Wenz!... Dawn ihobbuna ta' Ewropa!!!Din veru 'Ewropa li fija min kollox izda li mhux Unita' XEJN!!!!...Mela dawn l-izvedizi ghandhom art immensa 'landlocked' ma l-ewropa u ahna bicca ta' gzira f'nofs il Mediterran u ma jridux jghinuna. Mela x'unjoni din, Wenz!!!!!!
Dawn ta L-EU qatt ma kienu jarawna b'ghajn tajba lilna sewwa kien jghid il kbir Mintoff. Mbasta mortu lambranzetta maghhom tippruvaw tintoghgbu izda xorta wahda ma jahmluniex. L-EU hija biss progett ekonomiku u mhux socjali...Kieku hija socjali ma hawn dawn il inugwaljanza u divizjoni bejn il pajjizi li jiffurmaw din l-imbierka unjoni.
Issa x'ser naghmlu kif tigi il mewga ta'immigranti mil libya u bqija ta'Afrika???
Il poplu lilkhom ser izomm responsabbli Wenz!!! Tkomplux tilghaqu lil dawn il pajjizi WENZ!!!!
•
This is the kind of EU that PN wanted us to join - no solidarity, no compassion.
Hell to EU and those who wanted us to be part of it.
•
Dont fingerprint or take photos of the illegal immigrants so that when they find their way into mainland EU countries they cannot be returned to us. Then let;s see how the Swedes and others who say that they are no problem will react.
