MEP calls for better cooperation with third countries to address migration issues

MEP Therese Comodini Cachia addresses European students at summer seminar on migration

MEP Therese Comodini Cachia
MEP Therese Comodini Cachia

MEP Therese Comodini Cachia said that although repeated calls by the European Parliament for a holistic EU approach to migration had somehow managed to set a binding quota for distributing asylum seekers among all EU countries, more could have been done towards better cooperation with third countries and on the fight against human traffickers.

Speaking at a summer seminar organised by the European Democrat Students, hosted by student organization SDM, entitled ‘Successful Migration and Immigration Policy’, Comodini Cachia said that at the end of the day common immogration rules and implementation depends on the will of every EU country.

“In practice this means that final important decisions on immigration are still taken at Member State level; a situation which followed a decade of constant patchwork which hardly led to mutually agreed policy breakthroughs,” she said during the seminar, which was held at Skyparks Luqa and hosted around one hundred foreign students from different European countries.

She expressed agreement with the Commission’s approach to look at the external dimension, such as stabilising Libya and engaging with third countries to help address the root causes of migration. 

Comodini Cachia also placed emphasis on legal migratory options and visa policies which need to be studied and put in place.