Malta pushing for ‘substance’ in proposed draft migration conclusions

In less than 24 hours, a draft Council conclusion on irregular migration was drafted, presented to the European Council and placed on the agenda to be discussed tomorrow morning.

The proposed draft migration conclusion was coordinated by Malta together with eight other countries including France, Italy, Spain and Greece. The rest of the countries are Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus.

EU leaders will be meeting this afternoon and tomorrow in Brussels to discuss the digital agenda, innovation and services, the banking union, the Eastern European partnership and migration.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be arriving to the European Council building later on this afternoon with the first working session expected to start around 6pm.

But fresh allegations of US spying threaten to overshadow talks on the economy and migration.

Sources said the proposed draft conclusion on migration was spearheaded by Muscat following Monday's meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Malta's position has been described as "pushing for substance" and the placement of the draft conclusions "with substantive text" on the Council's agenda was "a huge achievement".

Even though a European summit on migration and asylum in June 2014 had long been approved, the Lampedusa tragedies and the united fronts taken by Italy, Greece and Malta managed to get EU leaders to discuss the issue.

Expressing sympathy on the human tragedies, the proposed draft conclusions focus on prevention and protection.

Sources said the nine countries have put forward proposals for increased EU action in the fight against human trafficking and cooperation between the European Union and the migrants' countries of origin and transits.

The cooperation envisaged includes development aid to these countries to help address the root causes which force migrants to flee their countries.

Malta, like other southern Mediterranean countries, will also be pushing for an effective returns policy, whose success depends on cooperation with organizations such as the United Nations and the International Organisation for Migration.

The European Commission is expecting the European Council "to rise to the solidarity challenge". Home Affairs European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, the Council meeting should serve as an opportunity to the European leaders to show that the "EU is based on the principle of solidarity and mutual support".

The European Commission also said that migratory pressures were a "European problem" requiring a sound management of migratory and asylum flows at national level, supported by initiatives at EU level.