Gonzi urged to secure immigration deal or veto EU

Labour and Alternattiva yesterday urged Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to persuade other EU leaders to share the burden of irregular immigration or else veto the proposed Immigration Pact, to be decided this week.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday pointed at a 30 per cent increase in the arrival of immigrants when compared to last year, insisting the country needed new resources and new Europe-wide regulations to tackle the phenomenon.
“The facts show that throughout this summer, the issue has reached the levels of a national crisis,” Muscat said in a statement issued jointly with the MLP spokesman on immigration, Michael Falzon.
“The solution is clearly not to let immigrants drown or to treat them badly, as every person deserves human dignity. What is needed is the political will, which to this day is nonexistent. We now require our government to move from words to facts, by taking a strong stand within the EU, after the promises we got have not materialised. … If Malta is not given the required resources and the system is not good enough to make good for this national crisis, the Maltese government must not agree to the new regulations.”
Alternattiva Demokratika similarly urged the Maltese government to take a strong stance at this week’s negotiations on new regulations on migration among the EU countries’ leaders.
“Prime Minister Gonzi should refer to the recent report adopted by the European parliament and authored by Green MEP Jean Lambert. The report clearly points to the necessity of responsibility sharing by all EU member countries and to a revision of the Dublin regulations, whereby asylum seekers in small territories like Malta could relocate to other EU states whilst waiting for their application to be examined,” Arnold Cassola said.
“If the other EU leaders do not agree to responsibility sharing, Prime Minister Gonzi should have absolutely no doubts and should go ahead in vetoing any proposed text,” Cassola said.
The government replied it will continue stepping up the pressure with foreign governments while keeping the Opposition informed about all the developments.
“This is a national problem that can only be solved through judicious work and not through empty words,” the government said in a direct reaction to Labour’s statement.
And in a press release issued by the Nationalist Party in reply, the PN said the government was expecting a relocation mechanism to come into place that would get European countries to take a number of immigrants on the same model as the US was doing with Malta.
The PN said it expected everyone to treat the issue “maturely, progressively, with moderation and seriousness, not through artificial and childish policies that ride on the racist sentiments that some unfortunately harbour.”

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