Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil yesterday cautioned against simplistic statements on the issue of immigration.
He was addressing the European Parliament’s plenary session in Brussels which was discussing immigration, Frontex and co-operation among Member States in the light of the incidents that took place in the Mediterranean sea during this Summer.
The debate was prompted by the European Socialist, Liberal and Green parties in Parliament which accuse Italy of being too heavy-handed on immigration and of having failed its legal obligations by returning immigrants back to Libya.
The debate was introduced by Swedish Immigration Minister Tobias Billstrom on behalf of the EU Presidency and EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
Busuttil, who leads the EPP group on immigration issues, was the first MEP to take the floor and acknowledged Barrot’s work on the immigration dossier, notably his proposal to establish a pilot project which would enable solidarity with Malta.
Referring to Italy’s return of immigrants intercepted at sea back to Libya, Busuttil cautioned against simplistic assessments.
“Immigration is a very sensitive, controversial and complex issue and one should avoid falling into the trap of simplistic statements,” Busuttil said. “It is all too easy to accuse this country or the other when what is really needed is a deep assessment of what is essentially a very complex issue.” he warned.
Although it was understandable to ask questions on Italy’s policy of returning migrants back to Libya, Busuttil noted that it was indisputable that as a result of these returns, the number of arrivals this year was down on last year and so were the number of tragic deaths. Likewise, he said, these returns had thwarted the operations of the criminal organisations who were exploiting migrants.
“So whereas the right to asylum is important, we cannot ignore the right to life which is being put at risk as a result of these dangerous crossings and we cannot forget our duty to put a stop to the tragic loss of human lives,” he said.
During his address, Busuttil also insisted with the Swedish Presidency and with the EU Commissioner to deploy the EU’s Frontex agency on co-ordinated return missions, to urgently embark upon solidarity measures such as Malta’s pilot project and to engage third countries like Libya without whose co-operation Europe’s efforts were stymied.
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