PM delivers statement to the House: ‘Terrorists want us to blame refugees’

Opposition leader demands better border controls and action on ‘justified concerns’ over issuance of Algerian visas

“This was an attack on our lifestyle, on how our society recreates itself, an attack on families attending a sporting event, attacks on the normality of our life.
“This was an attack on our lifestyle, on how our society recreates itself, an attack on families attending a sporting event, attacks on the normality of our life."

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has declared that there was no known threat against Malta in the wake of the Paris attacks, but that security had been beefed up in strategic locations.

Delivering a ministerial statement in parliament, Muscat appealed for caution and said the public should not succumb to any alarmism while keeping a watchful eye for anything suspicious.

He said restrictions on the Schengen zone would continue throughout the week and for the duration of the CHOGM summit next week, as a measure of added security.

Muscat also appealed for unity and warned against irrational fear turning into anger towards refugees and Islam.

“Recent acts of international terrorism may not necessarily be related, but offer a context into which we should read. It’s not my intention to offer an analysis… [but] we certainly must not blame Islam for these acts of terror, which is what the terrorists want.

“This was an attack on our lifestyle, on how our society recreates itself, an attack on families attending a sporting event, attacks on the normality of our life.

“There is certainly anger and fear on the part of people of good will, people who feel threatened by these actions…. Their reaction has been to express anger towards migrants. [But] we must treat this as an irrational fear. The people who have been arrested for this attack were born and bred in the country [where the attacks took place]. There were others who entered Europe illegally. It would be wrong to have hundreds blamed for these attacks, which is what the terrorists want us to do: fall into the trap of blaming the people running away from Syria, who are running away from these very perpetrators, and thereby creating a new generation of radicalised people,” Muscat said.

The prime minister said the terrorists wanted to take away from Europeans the union that had been created out of the ashes of the last world war.

“Their victory would be for us to dismantle the liberties we cherish as Europeans. We need to certainly improve our liberty and freedom to move by knowing who is entering Europe; we must be able to change these rules to adapt to the new reality we are living. It is a difficult but necessary change.”

On his part, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil offered his solidarity to the families of those targeted in the Paris attacks and to French nation. “We cannot forget other victims such as those in Lebanon, who suffered in similar attacks.

“What happened in Paris has hit not just the French, but many others from various countries. It is no surprise that there were Maltese families at the Stade de France and even in the environs of the Bataclan. This was Europe’s 9-11, and we have a country that is now in a state of war, the first time since WWII. It is something that is set to change things.”

Busuttil described the Islamic State as “our civilisation’s number one enemy”.

“I agree, these people are trying to change the way we live, to instil fear in us, to take our liberty away, to travel freely from one country to another. We find Schengen being threatened… Sweden has suspended it, Poland threatens to suspend it, France has rightly closed its borders.”

Busuttil however said that the Maltese government had to do its own part in securing border control. “The Opposition has made its concerns clear in the way the government controls our frontiers, in the issuance of travel visas and residence permits. If the Maltese government allows the issuance of 7,000 travel visas to Algerian residents in just one year and a half, that creates worries… the lack of an independent inquiry only increases our worries.”

The Opposition leader asked the Prime Minister to truly give the public peace of mind as to the security of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that is to take place.

On his part, Muscat replied that Busuttil was playing on the public’s emotions over the fact that the visas issued had been to Algerians. “EU member states know from way before what travel visas we issue to non-EU nationals… on our part it is important that Malta fosters relations with all members of Arab countries. And we asked the French government whether it had any reservation over the work of the Maltese consulates, not least those connected to the Algerian visas. Certainly enough, there has been none.”