Nationalist MEPs say ‘ball now in governments' court’ on migration issue

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola today said that the efforts of the Italian and Maltese people facing the challenges posed by migration are being recognised the European Parliament.

A European Parliament Resolution on migratory flows in the Mediterranean with particular attention to the tragic events off Lampedusa explicitly recognises "the huge efforts made by the inhabitants of Italy and Malta" and NGOs for the first reception and the rescue operations of immigrants.

The motion for a resolution was put forward jointly by all the main political parties in the European Parliament including the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists (S&D), the Greens and the Liberals (ALDE) and was adopted today by the European Parliament today. 

Commenting on the resolution, Member of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola said that this came after weeks of tough negotiations and welcomed the fact that finally the efforts of the Italian and Maltese people are being recognised by groups across the political spectrum in Europe.

Metsola said: "In my speech a couple of weeks ago, I raised a number of avenues that the EU must explore in order to deal with immigration to ensure that such tragedies are never witnessed again. I am pleased that this cross-party resolution recognises many of these ideas and calls for an approach based on solidarity and responsibility; tougher penalties for human traffickers; increased funding for EASO and FRONTEX and the recognition that relocation of beneficiaries of international protection from is crucial."

Her colleague, David Casa added "this is an important milestone that underlines the European Parliament's commitment to proposing concrete actions for the EU to tackle irregular immigration and reaffirms that the relocation of beneficiaries of international protection and asylum seekers is one of the most concrete forms of solidarity and responsibility-sharing, explicitly stressing the importance of projects such as the Pilot Project for Intra-EU Relocation from Malta (EUREMA)"

"The resolution tackles a number of points which I had raised including the need to deal with immigration in a holistic manner and emphasising the that disembarkation does not necessarily imply sole responsibility for the State on whose territory persons rescued at sea are disembarked - something that we have long called for in an effort to alleviate the disproportionate burden on countries such as Malta," Metsola added.

The resolution underlines the importance of responsibility-sharing in the field of asylum, and recommends creating a mechanism based on objective criteria to reduce the pressure on Member States receiving higher numbers of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection, in either absolute or proportional terms.

Metsola said that "This is crucial for Malta. We have done all we can in the European Parliament. The ball is now in the Governments' court and Malta has to work hard to convince other Member States to follow the Parliament's lead and achieve concrete results."