Malta is no longer alone on the issue of migration, Prime Minister Robert Abela said Friday amid reports the bloc is mulling strengthening its returns policy for irregular migrants.
Speaking in Brussels after an EU Council summit, Abela said, “we are no longer in a situation whereby Malta stands alone, and nothing is done on an EU level on irregular immigration – as was the case until a few years ago.”
Friday’s council meeting saw national leaders across Europe meet to discuss a range of topics including foreign policy, migration and the war in Ukraine, with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy also in attendance.
Calling Malta’s return policy one of its “greatest successes in irregular immigration policy,” Abela said he wanted to see “the same effective results achieved on a European level.”
Referring to a meeting with a group of other leaders including European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen on the fringes of the summit, Abela said it was “encouraging to see 10 Member States agreeing on the way forward.”
By October, some 115 irregular migrants had been returned from Malta to their country of origin, with 60 others transferred to other European countries, according to Home Affairs Ministry figures.
That month, Abela seemed to back European Commission calls for controversial ‘return hubs’ outside of the EU, saying Europe should look for "innovative solutions" to irregular migration.
The Prime Minister’s words this week come as the bloc is reportedly mulling plans to strengthen its policies towards irregular migration next year.
A new draft directive on returns could be circulated to member states as early as February, with new deportation rules and the possibility of ordering migrants to register at centres outside the EU on the cards, according to Politico.
Such centres have proved controversial, however, and faced legal challenges; last month, judges in Italy rejected the detention of a group of migrants in Italian-run centres in Albania.
Turning to Ukraine, Abela stressed the need for a “dose of realism” while calling for a diplomatic end to the conflict.
“Time is up for the narrative of winners and losers. The end to all fighting is the only win that matters in Ukraine”, he said, adding the incoming term of returning US President Donald Trump brought a different dimension to the situation in Ukraine.
While emphasising that such a peace should not require Ukraine to relinquish any part of its sovereignty, Abela said that “after three years of war if we do not adopt a different approach, we will have more years of war that lead us nowhere."
Hopes of a peace maintaining Ukraine’s sovereignty may prove unrealistic, however; in a press conference Thursday, Russian president Vladimir Putin said "victory is nearer" in Ukraine – a conflict he said in hindsight he would have launched earlier, the BBC reports.