Stress on surveillance in Mediterranean sea

The problem of illegal migration had to be treated in a collective and integrated manner, with all Mediterranean countries cooperating fully, especially through surveillance at sea in the region, Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said yesterday.

Collaboration in the prevention of illegal immigration was the main topic of discussion between a delegation of the Italian parliamentary committee on immigration, Europol and Schengen and Dr Borg.

Dr Borg was accompanied by parliamentary secretary Carm Mifsud Bonnici, police commissioner John Rizzo and assistant police commissioner Andrew Seychell.

The Italian committee is in Malta for three days to learn about the methods being used by the government to control illegal immigration and the surveillance of frontiers in view of the policy of cooperation between Malta and the EU in preventing illegal immigration.

The meeting, held at the Home Affairs Ministry, discussed the common management of frontiers in view of the illegal immigration phenomenon in Europe.

Dr Borg said that Malta and Italy were more than just neighbours - they were friends. Italy had always assisted Malta financially, including through a donation of Lm7 million worth of equipment to the Civil Protection Department.

The minister explained the government's policy on illegal immigration, which reached crisis proportions in 2002 when 1,680 illegal immigrants had landed on the island.

The government, the minister said, was adopting a detention policy for immigrants who entered the country irregularly.

However, with an acceptance rate of 50 per cent, Malta was the country with the highest refugee or humanitarian protection status.

In the past months, more than 1,300 people were repatriated and the number of illegal immigrants in detention now stood at some 250.

Alberto di Luca, heading the Italian delegation, said politics had brought Malta and Italy closer together. Illegal immigration, he said, was not just a problem for Malta and Italy but also for the other EU member states.

They discussed a coordinated system between the police and EU member states and the formation of a common repatriation policy through the signing of an agreement with African states and assistance and incentive programmes for the illegal immigrants' country of origin.