Karl Stagno-Navarra
Home affairs minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici is set to meet his Italian counterpart later this week in a bid to defuse a row that is in the offing with Rome over Malta’s refusal to participate in this year’s Frontex-sponsored patrols in the Mediterranean to counter illegal immigration.
Italy’s home affairs minister Roberto Maroni has criticised Malta’s refusal to take part in the joint-patrols, after Frontex member states insisted that migrants intercepted at sea would be taken to the country that hosts the mission’s HQ, in this case Malta.
Speaking in Milan last Monday, Roberto Maroni said that Malta’s refusal to participate in the ‘Chronos’ mission this summer “could have serious consequences because it breaks a bond that so far has been quite unique in the Mediterranean.”
Maroni stressed that he will do “all he can” to convince Malta to return to the negotiating table and to participate in the Frontex mission.
But the Maltese government has already made it clear to Brussels that Armed Forces patrol boats will not be joining other EU navies in the joint missionm, but will go it alone and protect its own maritime frontiers.
EU home affairs commissioner Margot Malstrom who visited Malta two weeks ago, stated her disappointment at Malta’s decision not to participate in this years Frontex Mediterranean patrols and stressed “no regrets” for the decision.
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