Libya’s brusque reaction to the appointment of Roberto Calderoli as a Minister in Silvio Berlusconi’s new government could have dire consequences for Malta as Libya has threatened to stop helping Italy to stop immigrants from reaching its coast.
Calderoli had previously offended the Islamic world by sporting a T-shirt depicting cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, at the height of the Danish cartoon crisis of 2006.
Libya’s sudden announcement that it would no longer help protect Italian shores from waves of illegal African migrants has sent shock waves across the Sicilian channel, fuelling fears of record immigration arrivals in Malta.
But the Maltese government insists that there is no reason to panic, because Malta’s relationship with Libya remain “very healthy.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs referred to last month's meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and his counterpart Abdul Rahman Shalgam in Tripoli.
“In these meetings it was once again emphasised that both countries are to keep on working together in order to find solutions to the illegal immigration problem."
But since many boats carrying immigrants from Libya to Italy pass through the Maltese search and rescue zone, Libya’s threat to stop collaborating with the Italian authorities could spell trouble for Malta.
"Libya is no longer responsible for protecting Italian coasts from illegal migrants... because the Italian side did not make good on its commitment to provide support for Libya," the Libyan Interior Ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters on Thursday.
Officially Libya is claiming that it will stop its collaboration with Italian authorities because Rome and other European Union states had failed to come up with promised support.
"Libya has been suffering in the struggle of warding off the flow of illegal migrants to Italy by depleting its material resources and spending huge amounts of money to protect Italian coasts from waves of illegal migrants," the Libyan statement continued.
But the timing of the move coincided with the appointment of Roberto Calderoli as a minister in Berlusconi’s new cabinet. Berlusconi ignored Libya's warning against appointing the far-right lawmaker to a cabinet post.
A Libyan charity group, chaired by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, had warned of "catastrophic repercussions" for ties between the two countries if Roberto Calderoli became a minister.
Calderoli angered Muslims in 2006 by wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad: a move that prompted deadly riots in Libya.
The politician further outraged Italy's Muslim community last year by promoting a "pig day" protest where he threatened to walk a pet pig in an area reserved for a new mosque.
According to Reuters Libya's Interior Ministry said it expected an increase in the number of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan countries to cross to Italy via Libya this summer - usually a peak season for migrants because Mediterranean waters are calm.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt