Looking back at 2018 | Migration comes back to haunt Muscat

The election of a far-right government in Italy in 2018 has brought back the migration issue to the fore after a reprieve of five years during which Malta was spared from boat arrivals thanks to an informal agreement with centre-left governments which had accepted to take responsibility for all migrants rescued in Malta’s “search and rescue area”.  

But all this ended after elections in spring produced a new Italian government formed between the anti-immigrant Lega and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement (MS5). One of the casualties of this political earthquake was the informal agreement which had stopped boat arrivals to Malta.  

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But as a response to Matteo Salvini’s defiance and incendiary anti-migrant rhetoric, 2018 has also seen Prime Minister Joseph Muscat asserting himself on an international standing by working alongside moderate European politicians like French President Emmanuel Macron in creating ad-hoc coalitions to share responsibility for migrants refused by both Italy and Malta.   
 
Muscat’s path to redemption?

This helped Muscat in restoring his international profile, which was substantially bruised by increased international scrutiny after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. This may explain why Muscat was willing to go out of his way to assume the role of reasonable interlocutor even at the cost of sacrificing his popularity among the immigrant bashing crowd, which he had cultivated when toying with pushbacks back in 2013.   

One clear sign of Muscat’s return to the European mainstream was a joint op-ed published in September in which Joseph Muscat joined former Italian PM Matteo Renzi, Spain’s Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera, ALDE chief Guy Verhofstadt and Christophe Castaner, the leader of Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche movement, to denounce resurgent nationalism ahead of the European election next year.   
Muscat also showed greater readiness to work alongside European leaders to find concrete solutions on migration. The first ad hoc coalition was formed with the intention of sharing 234 migrants on the MV Lifeline boat in June after the boat was allowed to enter Malta.  

In July, Malta and France agreed to take 100 of the 450 migrants rescued from a fishing boat in the Mediterranean after Italy accepted to grant them entry in Sicily. In August Malta agreed to let a private rescue ship dock on the island, with the 141 migrants it was carrying to be distributed among five fellow European Union nations in what was described as a “responsibility-sharing exercise”,  

In September a military ship brought 58 migrants – and a dog – to Malta after being rescued by the Aquarius rescue ship. France, Portugal, Spain and Germany struck a deal to take in the migrants who disembarked in Malta after Italy refused to let the vessel dock.

But in the absence of Italian assistance, Malta also had to accept more migrants rescued by its own armed forces. In the space of 24 hours, between 6 and 7 October, Malta rescued 211 migrants after their dinghies started taking in water close to Malta. Another group of 149 migrants were rescued and brought to Malta in November.

With an EU agreement which sees all European nations doing their part unlikely to happen because of entrenched opposition by the Visegrad nations, the creation of a coalition of the willing ensures that Italy and Malta are not left to their devices. An agreement reached by EU leaders in June after tense and lengthy talks were vague, keeping the commitment to share migrants a voluntary one.  

The question is whether ad-hoc solutions which see a limited number of European nations agreeing to share responsibility is further delaying a long-term European solution or whether this is the only sensible option left to confront the humanitarian emergency.  

Facing a backlash?

It remains unclear whether Muscat is at risk of a backlash from his own electorate on this issue.  Surely so far the number of asylum seekers brought in to Malta remains lower than before 2013. Moreover asylum seekers represent a small fraction of Malta’s growing foreign labour force, which is vital for current rates of economic growth. It may well be the case that as long as the economy goes strong, people are less likely to vent their anger on migration.  

Over the past months, Muscat defied the populist label often attributed to him, insisting that he has no problem showing solidarity with other countries, adding that he “will shoulder the decision taken. This is what I am Prime Minister for, to take decisions”.  

While upon being elected in 2013 he was very close to the approach of Italian PM Guiseppe Conte, threatening pushbacks and vetoes to make Europe “wake up and smell the coffee”, Muscat now calls for ‘persuasion’. In response to Conte’s threat to withhold EU funds over European inertia on migration, Muscat warned is that “it isn’t words, or the size of a country that brings about solutions, nor is it simply tweeting and raising your voice. Solutions are found through persuasion.”  

Yet on one particular aspect, Muscat has taken a hard-line approach: his decision to block the operations of NGO rescue ships which are accused of acting as pull factors for migrants, but are also actively saving lives in the absence of EU action. The Lifeline captain is still facing court proceedings in Malta.  

Muscat may have used the stand-off with NGOs to balance his humanitarian approach with the concerns of his own electorate. Moreover this is a position which finds both far-right governments and mainstream EU governments in agreement. The June summit of EU leaders had called on all rescue organisations to cooperate with the Libyan coastguard, in a move seen as targeting the NGO vessels.

The limits of cosmopolitanism

But while Muscat has been presenting himself as the Prime Minister of a forward-looking cosmopolitan Malta – especially to contrast criticism by the Opposition on the growing number of foreign workers in Malta – he has been cautious on integration policies, throwing cold water on a proposal by Equality Minister Helena Dalli to grant long term residents the vote in elections. This suggests that Muscat’s approach to cosmopolitanism is fuelled by economic considerations more than by a firm commitment for inclusion.   

The eviction of 120 migrants in August from cowsheds in Qormi, which “reeked of death” according to an enforcement officer present on site, was a reminder of the ugly realities of exploitation lurking behind the Maltese economic miracle.

One bold step taken by the government was to start issuing residence permits to long-term immigrants who are not eligible for international protection but cannot be returned to their country of origin. This signals a move towards greater inclusion.

This contrasted with the arrest of 33 failed asylum seekers from Mali in 2016, nine of whom spent three months in detention before being released.  Yet with local and MEP elections due next year any further progress on integration policies is unlikely at least during the first half of 2019.  

This is because politicians in both camps are also likely to play the strongman card on migration. Bearing on these elections is also the threat posed by local far-right outfits whose inroads may further condition political debate in the country.

Moreover the growing unpopularity of the embattled Macron Presidency in France with which Muscat has increasingly identified in 2018 now risks undermining Muscat’s own ambitions for a top EU post. And this may even have a bearing on whether he would stay on as PM after these elections.