Swedes using Malta as evac base, after playing down migration concerns

The irony was not lost in diplomatic circles, a government source told MaltaToday – earlier last week on Thursday, Swedish minister of the interior Tobias Billstrom played down “exaggerated” claims by Malta and Italy that the southern EU states will face a humanitarian crisis of asylum seekers and Libyan refugees.

“Northern states have been removed from the reality of mixed flows and irregular migration. But Malta’s role as a logistical base in the Libyan evacuations highlights the need for more solidarity in EU circles,” the source said.

Billstrom said this week 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 at a European council meeting.

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.

The Swedish plane is expected to be a C-130 Hercules.