The European Union has, since 2007, handed Malta almost €22.5 million in funds related to migration, asylum seekers and humanitarian aid, parliament was told on Monday

The information was tabled by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in reply to a question by PN MP Joseph Ellis. Camilleri said that EU funding is calculated on a period of seven years and Malta had benefited from funding from two such budgets.

From 2007 till 2013, Malta was awarded €9,319,677.38 from the General Programme "Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows" and from 2014 till 2020 it was given €13,148,659.26 from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. 

In total, Malta received €22,468,336.60 in funds from 2007 till 2020.

“It should be clarified that Malta carried a disproportionate burden where the challenge of irregular migration is concerned and while we expect to qualify for these type of funds as is our right, it in no way means that this can be considered satisfactory compensation for the burden that our country has borne,” the minister said in his reply. 

Camilleri added that his ministry was basing its strategy on migration on three principles; preventing arrivals, relocations to other EU member states and the repatriation of people who do not qualify for asylum. 

Earlier this month, the government repatriated a group of people whose claims for asylum were rejected.