Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1001069
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 JULY 2018 7 NEWS ANALYSIS NGOs became indispensible in saving lives. In this context the Mument story was a timid attempt to attack Muscat on migration, while evading the funda-mental issues at stake. While Delia has supported Muscat's official line in the latest standoffs with Italy, he was ambivalent on Muscat's decision to accept the 230 Lifeline migrants and has not stated his position on Mus- cat's decision to blockade. Under Simon Busuttil the PN was very cautious not to confront the government on migration issues from the right, Delia is more keen on confronting government on the large presence of foreign- ers in the economy. However, he seems reluc- tant on confronting govern- ment directly on the plight of asylum seekers. In a scenario with surveys showing that the Maltese are more concerned with the relatively small num- ber of asylum seekers than with the far larger numbers of foreign workers, the tempta- tion to outflank Muscat from the right may grow. He may even be embold- ened with surveys showing Nationalist voters more edgy on migration than Labour voters. The electoral weighing scales In the end Muscat's balanc- ing act may be highly effec- tive in electoral terms since it makes it hard to pigeon-hole Muscat either as a heartless Salvini – for he did accept the Lifeline migrants to en- ter Malta – or as a snowflake liberal, since with regards to NGOs he is in full agreement with Matteo Salvini. Muscat projects this as a bal- anced approach to a complex problem which, as he rightly says, has no "silver bullet so- lution." Yet in practical terms, the blockade against NGO ships by both Malta and Italy has affectively paralysed their ability to rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Over the past few days more than 200 migrants have drowned while over 1000 were intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and sent to overcrowded detention cen- tres where living conditions are deteriorating. In short the human conse- quence of blocking our ports to NGOs may return to haunt Muscat and other EU govern- ments who are looking the other way as more people drown or fester in Libyan de- tention centres. Yet, are they doing so in the knowledge that electorates become completely desensi- tised to reports of drowning people? For while the Lampe- dusa tragedy led to operation Mare Nostrum which saw It- aly saving thousands of lives, the latest tragedy has led to a blockade of NGO vessels that are effectively doing what Ita- ly used to do with their ships in 2013. The contrast could not have been starker. Janus-faced approach to migration In a scenario with surveys showing that the Maltese are more concerned with the relatively small number of asylum seekers than with the far larger numbers of foreign workers, the temptation to outflank Muscat from the right may grow Janus-faced approach to migration NGOs became indispensible in saving lives. In this context the Mument story was a timid attempt to attack Muscat on migration, while evading the funda-mental issues at stake. While Delia has supported Muscat's official line in the latest standoffs with Italy, he was ambivalent on Muscat's decision to accept the 230 Lifeline migrants and has not stated his position on Mus- cat's decision to blockade. Under Simon Busuttil the PN was very cautious not to confront the government on migration issues from the right, Delia is more keen on confronting government on the large presence of foreign- ers in the economy. However, he seems reluc- tant on confronting govern- ment directly on the plight of asylum seekers. In a scenario with surveys showing that the Maltese are more concerned with the relatively small num- ber of asylum seekers than with the far larger numbers of foreign workers, the tempta- tion to outflank Muscat from the right may grow. He may even be embold- ened with surveys showing Nationalist voters more edgy on migration than Labour voters.