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Karl Schembri
Convening all the European ambassadors at his office last Monday afternoon, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo called on the EU to respond to all migratory routes of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean, as he accused it of focusing only on controlling the western routes and devoting much more attention to Spain.
The declaration did not go unnoticed, at least it generated a response from the European Commission and the EU border agency Frontex to clarify their commitments, but the replies only served to show the inadequate and reactive approach taken across Europe to a phenomenon stemming out of global problems far beyond one country’s reach.
“Malta expects that Frontex should immediately launch joint sea patrols in the central Mediterranean in an attempt to stem the flow of illegal migrants and to transmit the message that concrete action is under way also in respect of this route,” Frendo said. “The fact that operations of this nature have been launched for the West African route has meant that the central Mediterranean route has become even more vulnerable and exposed. This is an imbalance that must be rectified without delay.”
As if to confirm its inability to face the problem, Frontex replied yesterday saying that no such patrols were launched yet in the Western Mediterranean, and that patrols south of Malta would depend on Libya’s willingness to cooperate.
Frendo criticised the exclusion of East African countries from a two-day Euro-African conference on migration and development in Rabat, Morocco.
“Malta deeply regrets the selectivity of the invitee list since it excludes other countries which are themselves major countries of origin of illegal migration across the Mediterranean such as those located in East Africa,” the minister said. “It was a short-sighted move to exclude these countries from participating in this conference, as this implies that the problem is being approached piece-meal rather than holistically; the end result of a lop-sided approach is bound to be a further redirection of illegal immigration to the central Mediterranean.”
He said Malta will not accept a declaration that is not open for signature also by countries that have not been invited to participate in Morocco, signalling his intention to keep up the pressure to involve as many countries of origin as possible.
“What is urgently needed now is a Conference that approaches the issue holistically in a meeting of countries of origin, transit and destination,” he said.
But away from conferences and declarations, Europe itself is facing different experiences of immigration making a common policy in the immediate future unlikely, for some even undesirable.
Different European states are establishing their own immigration policies based on countries of origin, volume, problems of integration and market demands, leaving Malta and its particular circumstances as an island state on its own.
Speaking at a conference on immigration organised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Madrid last week, Torsten Moritz of the Brussels-based Churches Commission for Migrants said it may take up to another 10 years before European states agree on a common immigration policy, as so far countries have only acted reactively to control migration flows.
Frendo said Malta favours a European-African “mechanism designed to address issues with a direct impact on displacement of people and unregulated migration to deal with the quick deployment of fact-finding missions to identify needs in crises areas and to monitor and ascertain that EU development assistance does at the end of the day provide a tangible benefit to the population.”
That may be a huge step forward, but it would require both Europe and Africa to listen and devise common policies – a task that seems as difficult as eradicating poverty.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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