Prime Minister Joseph Muscat warned again this evening that unless agreement on effective measures on migration was reached in the EU, he may, in future, not be prepared to agree on other issues.
Without actually mentioning the word 'veto', Dr Muscat said the EU could expect a stronger stand by Malta on the immigration issue because it was unacceptable that the EU came together to tackle the financial crisis, but not to tackle an issue which involved people.
Dr Muscat was replying to questions after Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia delivered a statement to the House on irregular migration.
Dr Mallia said Malta will hold talks with Italy so that the two countries can propose to the EU measures to be taken at the points of departure of migrants.
This, he said could offer an immediate solution to the migration problem.
Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia.Dr Mallia said that every day that went by without EU action to deal with immigration would mean more lives lost.
While increased funding was important, it was not good enough and an action plan was needed.
“Talk will not save lives. We have spoken for a long time, without achieving anything, Dr Mallia said.
Libya, he insisted, was part of the solution that Europe must seek, and not the problem.
He recalled that Malta and Italy had proposed a task force to come up with measures to tackle the immigration problem, and, he said, nothing had happened on this score so far.
Malta would consider other measures, including expanding the role of Frontex, but one needed to see the implications of such changes.
It was not good enough for EU member states to offer more resources to Frontex and one expected real solidarity regarding the receipt of migrants.
OPPOSITION RAISES QUESTIONS
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said saving lives was an overriding consideration. The issue was what would happen to the migrants once they were rescued. The Opposition disagreed that they should remain in the country that rescued them.
He said the government should explain its immigration policy because positions had changed three times over two months.
The government had first wanted to resort to push-backs, and was stopped.
The second case was how the government, rightly, refused entry to migrants which were rescued outside Malta's rescue zone by the ship Salamis.
Then last week, Malta accepted migrants who were rescued significantly closer to Lampedusa than Malta. To date, Malta had always been firm that migrants should be taken to the closest safe harbour. Had the old policy been changed?
Dr Busuttil said the former government used to be criticised for not doing enough for the relocation of migrants. But how many pledges had been received by Dr Mallia in a recent Relocation Forum hosted by the EU? How many countries had accepted to receive migrants from Malta? Under the PN government, EU countries had accepted to receive a total of 700 migrants.
Dr Busuttil said the government was adopting a 'hostile' attitude against the EU on immigration. True, the EU should have done much more, but there was a difference between being critical and being hostile. Being hostile could have negative consequences when one sat down to negotiate.
It was worth noting that some of the assets used in last Friday's rescue were actually heavily funded by the EU, Dr Busuttil said.
Questions were also asked by Nationalist MPs Jason Azzopardi and Beppe Fenech Adami. The former asked whether Malta would participate in Frontex operations once there were disagreement on where migrants were taken to. He also asked whether it was Malta and Italy who had proposed the task force, or just Italy, as the Commission's minutes showed.
Dr Fenech Adami asked if counselling was being offered to the AFM rescuers after the trauma they went through on Friday, as well as on previous occasions.
Anthony Agius Decelis (PL) said the prime minister was right to be assertive in his meetings in EU fora.
Labour MP Carmelo Abela referred to the prime minister's meeting in Libya yesterday and asked what the Libyan position and requests were.
Joseph Cassar (PN) asked how many of last Friday's rescued migrants were treated in hospital.
Claudette Buttigieg (PN) asked the government to explain its policy and relations with NGOs who helped the migrants, while Ryan Callus (PN) asked if talks had been held with Greece before it assumes the EU presidency. He also asked if there was more information on reports that the migrants were shot at by a Libyan militia as they left Libya.
Toni Bezzina (PN) asked when the House Committee on Immigration would be convened.
Marlene Farrugia (PL) praised the prime minister for putting people's lives first and foremost by not only monitoring the migrants' rescue, but also accepting them in Malta once facilities in Lampedusa were stretched. It was important, now, that families of rescued migrants were reunited. Malta had the moral high ground and should continue to insist on solutions to this problem.
Deborah Schembri (PL) renewed calls for psychological counselling to the AFM rescuers.
PM DISAPPOINTED BY OPPOSITION'S ATTITUDE
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he was disappointed by the comments from the Opposition and its failure to share a common stand with the government. The Opposition was trying to score political points.
The Leader of the Opposition had understood nothing about how he should deal with the EU, Dr Muscat said. He would tell Dr Busuttil that he could expect more - he expected to be even firmer against the EU and would take no lessons from the Opposition, which achieved nothing in nine years in this area.
This government was insisting that burden-sharing should be mandatory, but Malta's hand was weakened by the fact that the former government had accepted voluntary burden sharing.
Dr Muscat said he would stand firm, and if no agreement was reached on migration in the EU, he might not be prepared to agree on other issues in the future.
It was unacceptable that the EU came together to tackle the financial crisis and Malta too had to fork out funds, but the same was not happening where people were concerned.
As for the EU funds given to Malta, those were Malta's by right, Dr Muscat.
Dr Muscat said while the practice was for migrants to be taken to the nearest harbour, he had had talks with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta as the rescue took place on Friday and it was decided to bring the migrants to Malta. At the time there were fears of an even bigger death toll and rescuers could not waste time counting people. Dr Muscat said he had therefore personally decided that the migrants should be brought to Malta.
Dr Muscat said Malta was not excluding anything in its talks with the EU but in every circumstance, people's lives would not be put at risk.
On Frontex rules of engagement, Dr Muscat said Malta was being careful. There had to be clear rules. He had told EU President Van Rumpuy today that improved Frontex operations would be a step forward if it was known where the migrants would be taken to.
His fear was that the EU was playing for time until winter set in. But the situation was getting worse, especially because of the increased number of migrants from Syria.
The EU needed to find new ways to encourage legal migration, as Commissioner Malmstrom had said.
Should Syria be treated as a special case for the granted of visas, for example?
Dr Mallia too said he had expected stronger support from the Opposition.
Referring to Dr Azzopardi's questions, Dr Mallia said Italy and Malta had discussed the task force proposal. The important thing now was to translate words into fact.
He said the Relocation Forum was held on Malta's initiative.
Psychological counselling was being given to AFM soldiers through the Richmond Foundation.
With regard to reuniting migrants families, photos had been taken of the rescued migrants who were in Italy and they were being shown to those brought to Malta.
As for NGOs, ministers Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and Helena Dalli had a meeting with them on Sunday to discuss their work.
Regarding discussion within a House committee, Dr Mallia said immigration would be discussed within the Social Affairs Committee, as happened in the last legislature.