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Eurobarometer - 55% of Maltese say migration does not enrich country
[Amended headline] Increase in irregular migration flows from Tunisia shows EU is still under increased migratory pressure.
One of the recently rescued boat migrants: the Maltese think they face inherent discrimination making it hard for them to integrate. Photo: Justin Gatt/AFM
59% of Maltese believe immigrants have difficulty to integrate largely because they don't want to, a Eurobarometer survey has found in an accompanying poll to the European Commission's annual report for 2011.
A similar percentage, 56%, said immigrants were finding it hard to integrate because of the discrimination they face in Malta.
But while a majority of Maltese admitted that migrants and asylum seekers were facing discrimination in Malta, almost the same percentage (55%) said immigration does not (55%) enrich Malta economically or culturally.
The silver lining is that 32% - a sizeable proportion - believe migration enriches the country, and 86%, more than the EU average, believe member states should offer protection and asylum to people in need.
The Maltese also emerged as staunch believers in burden sharing, saying asylum seekers should be more equally shared across the EU (85%) as well as the costs of providing asylum (89%) - in both cases, above the EU 80% average.
The survey also found 95% of all Maltese agreeing that more assistance was needed to handle irregular migration, but only 15% said Malta should be alone in handling migration policy, which reinforces the support for a common asylum policy.
Only four per cent, or 27,465 out of 706,000 refugees fleeing the civil strife in Libya travelled north to the EU. But the
resulting impact, and the increase in irregular migration flows from Tunisia and at the Turkey-Greece border, demonstrated the EU is still under increased migratory pressure with no expectation of this declining in the future.
The European Commission's report on immigration and asylum, found that the consequences of the Arab Spring, principally in Italy but also in Malta, and the migration flows at the Greece-Turkey border during 2011, "led to serious reflections on how the EU should best respond to these migratory pressures, whilst at the same time having efficient entry mechanisms to permit orderly and managed migration."
The number of asylum applications in Italy in 2011 was 34,115, a 239% increase from 2010, and for Malta it was 1,890, a 980% increase from 2010. The number of applications from Tunisia increased 12-fold to 6,335 in 2011 with the vast majority lodged in Italy.
The EC said migration was an essential enhancement for the EU, economically, socially and culturally. But it also said it had contributed to certain perceptions which need to be aired through open and balanced debates, "not dominated solely by anti-immigration rhetoric."
"Whilst the downsides of migration are often widely reported, one should not forget the positive contributions that migration brings and will need to bring in order for the EU to grow and continue to thrive."
The EC also said a coherent EU migration policy needs to instil confidence in EU citizens, but said the caricature of a so-called 'Fortress Europe' was not an accurate representation of EU policy. "Rather, the EU has a duty to ensure that Europe's borders are safe and secure with appropriate legal channels for entry."
There are some 20.2 million third-country nationals in the EU, around 4% of the total EU population (502.5 million) and only 9.4% of the estimated 214 million migrants worldwide.
68% of the Eurobarometer poll thinks that legal immigrants should have the same rights as their own national citizens. Four in ten Europeans (42%) think the EU should encourage labour migration from non EU countries to help tackle demographic challenges and labour shortages, with 46% disagreeing.
In 2011 EU Member States recorded just over 302,000 asylum applications, a significant increase of 16.2% compared to 2010.
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I have no ill feelings towards those who seek a better life, I feel saddened that there are unscrupulous individuals who take advantage of other peoples' miseries. But to say that illegal immigration is enriching is preposterous, we already have enough problems with unemployment and high cost of living, if the EU had kept its promise of solidarity I would more than welcome these unfortunates but I was taught that "charity begins at home".
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"59% of Maltese believe immigrants have difficulty to integrate largely because they don't want to ... 56%, said immigrants were finding it hard to integrate because of the discrimination they face in Malta." The reliability of this survey can be measured by the fact
that it gives the views of 59 + 56 % of Maltese = 115%. That way it makes sure that we are all covered and indeed more than covered.
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55% is not one in five (20%). Nearer to three in five.
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"59% of Maltese believe immigrants have difficulty to integrate largely because they don't want to ... 56%, said immigrants were finding it hard to integrate because of the discrimination they face
in Malta." The reliability of this survey can be measured by the fact that it gives the views of 59 + 56 % of Maltese = 115%. That way it makes sure that we are all covered and indeed more than covered.
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"The number of asylum applications ... for Malta was 1,890, a 980% increase from 2010. " and UNHCR and JRS continue to clamour for more of them to come to Malta!
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This enrichment 'buzzword ' is nothing but a joke; what enrichment do we get from millions of female genitalia mutilations done every years; when multiple wives is a norm and where arranged marriages is the order of the day? Where men with aids rape virgins to heal from aids? Even children are forced to marry old men!President Zuma of South Africa has five wives! Where non believers 'infidels' are encouraged to be murdered; where they really expect that in heaven there will be young virgins waiting for them for their good life?. Where did I get all this information? From the Guardian!
