MEP Metsola calls for dynamic EU Security Strategy following attacks in Australia and Pakistan

During a debate on the European Union's Internal Security Strategy in the European Parliament, Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola emphasised the importance of having a dynamic and functioning strategy.

"The recent events in Australia and Pakistan as well as the reported footholds of ISIS in Libya and around the world remind us just how crucial it is for proper coherence between internal and external aspects of security,” the PN MEP said. "There are no words to describe the horror at reading the news stories describing how murderers went from class to class killing innocent children in Pakistan.”

"Now more than ever, the safeguarding of Europe's internal security is at the forefront of citizen's concerns. Without scaremongering, the EU must tackle rising extremism and radicalisation with renewed vigour, 'foreign fighters' - that is the rising number of EU citizens who travel to conflict areas to join terrorist organisations and then return to the EU - pose new threats to our internal security and must be tackled.”

Metsola said that the next EU Internal Security Strategy due next year must also, as a priority, address the issue of human trafficking: “This crime generates around €150 million in illicit gains, and destroys the lives of those who are most vulnerable".

On Libya, Metsola underscored the importance of being vigilant. "Malta knows only too well of the risks of Libya continuing to fall into chaos, and the situation there remains precarious, with the EU Anti-Terrorism Coordinator having already warned of the threat of ISIS expanding in Libya."

Metsola concluded by stating that any Strategy agreed to must strike the right balance between security and guarantees for fundamental freedoms, in order for it to have the desired effect.

David Casa calls on Council to prepare for migration

During a debate in Strasbourg ahead of the European Council Summit this week, Head of the PN Delegation David Casa made reference to last week's visit of the UN Human Rights expert in which Malta was alerted to an inevitable surge of the migrant arrivals for which Malta is not prepared.

"I agree that we are not ready. But we will not be ready. Malta’s size is what it is and no amount of fantasy wishful thinking will change that,” Casa said. “This reality is not one that Malta can, nor should, face alone. I ask the Council, represented here today: Where is the solidarity so often mentioned, but which, when it comes to migration, has been inexistent.”

A vote on a Resolution on Migration will be held later today. The Resolution calls a holistic approach on migration, addressing Europe’s asylum system and ensuring shared responsibility Member States.

"This is a positive development and I hopeful that the Resolution will be adopted, but nothing will change if Member States are too comfortable leaving things as they are," Casa said.

According to the statement, Casa expressed his frustration with the current state of affairs and the fact there has been no concrete action in Council.

"With Mare Nostrum gone the urgency is even greater. We need to allow for the possibility of migration through legal channels so as to prevent the shameful loss of life in the Mediterranean and we must destroy the criminals that make this possible. We must have shared responsibility to cater for those already here and the others that will follow. And we need all this now."