Carm Mifsud Bonnici welcomes EU-Libya deal on illegal immigration

Home Affairs minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici says migration agreement between EU and Libya ‘an important step in direction Malta had been advocating for a number of years.’

6 October 2010, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

1 min read

Mifsud Bonnici said Malta had consistently maintained that Libya, a primary transit country in the flow of immigrants from Africa towards Europe, requireed assistance to handle the challenges of migration to Libya’s vast land and sea borders.

The European Commission delegation to Libya led by Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström yesterday reached an agreement with the Libyan authorities which promises to not only assist Libya in improving the management of its borders, but also better access to international protection for asylum seekers.

The agreement will provide up to €50 million over two years for specific projects to be implemented to reach this aim.

Mifsud Bonnici said the agreement was “an initial but crucial step in the development of co-operation between Libya and the European Union on matters related to illegal immigration and augurs that this will serve as a cornerstone for further positive developments in this field in the near future."

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...