Malta suffers setback in bid for burden-sharing on immigration

EU member states are expected to reject Malta’s plea to take in immigrants picked up at sea outside its search-and-rescue zone because it would constitute a "pull-factor" for illegal immigration.

Experts from the 27 member states and the European Commission met last week (25 July) to discuss a proposal Malta made in June for other EU states to share the burden of would-be migrants heading towards the tiny state.

But while financial burden-sharing and resettlement of recognised refugees from Malta is expected to be discussed further at another meeting on 4-5 September, the idea that other states would take in illegal migrants picked up at sea is likely to be opposed.

"I really cannot see how other member states can take in illegal immigrants because of course this will be seen as a pull-factor," said a European Commission spokesman.

He added that the EU was expected to increase joint operations to send illegal immigrants back to their home countries, as a way of cutting costs. A Commission green paper on asylum policy could suggest changes to the current system whereby asylum-seekers must apply for refugee status to the EU state in which they first land and can be sent back to that state if they move on elsewhere. Under these provisions, a system of burden-sharing for asylum-seekers could be envisaged.

One EU diplomat said that greater pressure would be put on third countries to patrol their own search-and-rescue zone and take back their nationals who travel illegally to the EU. "Burden-sharing within the EU is hard to imagine and I don’t think it’s going to fly," said the diplomat.

"The 2,000 persons a year picked up by Malta are mostly not refugees and they need to be processed and sent back to their country of origin. Malta needs to take this in hand because it is not a solution to be shipping people around," the diplomat added.

The Portuguese presidency of the EU, with input from the Commission, gave experts at last week’s meeting a questionnaire asking what the role of Frontex, the EU’s border agency, should be in controlling borders and returning people to the areas that they set off from. The questionnaire also seeks responses to reallocation of immigrants and what to do with people intercepted by EU joint operations at sea.

The responses will form the basis of discussions at a meeting of justice and interior ministers on 17-18 September. Malta, which has for the last three years called for help in dealing with the large numbers of immigrants heading for its shores, is expected to be disappointed at EU refusal to take in immigrants rescued outside its search and rescue zone, often in Libyan waters. But the dawning of new relations with Libya, following the release from jail of six medical workers last week (23 July), should mean more co-operation on migrants leaving Libyan waters for the EU, diplomats said.

Malta has called for a resumption of a Frontex mission in the Mediterranean, which ended last Friday (27 July) and involved patrols by six member states. "September is a critical month for immigration, so I really hope Frontex resumes its operations in the Mediterranean soon," Tonio Borg, Malta’s justice and home affairs minister, told Maltese newspapers.

EU member states are expected to reject Malta’s plea to take in immigrants picked up at sea outside its search-and-rescue zone because it would constitute a "pull-factor" for illegal immigration.