Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1484256
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 2022 hobnobbing with Macron to flirting with Meloni? finding common ground rather than clashing with its northern neighbour. In their statement Saturday, Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus once again insisted that they "cannot subscribe to the no- tion that countries of first entry are the only possible European landing spots for illegal immi- grants." They added that the number of migrants taken in by other EU member states "only represents a very small fraction of the actual number of irregu- lar arrivals". ż the operations of private charity vessels "acting in total autonomy from the competent state authorities" to save hun- dreds of migrants rescued at sea. From the Maltese perspective such an approach suggests an understanding with the Italian far right government, providing it with diplomatic support to avert the bickering over boats which characterised relations between the two countries both under the Berlusconi led government between 2008 and 2011 and the populist coalition between 2018 and 2019. But does this represent the emergence of a new block of assertive Mediterranean na- tions pushing their agenda as the Visegrad group in Eastern Europe did in blocking man- datory migration pacts? Ironi- cally the common stance of the four Mediterranean countries comes in a context of a split between rightwing govern- ments in Poland and Hungary, over the response to the war in Ukraine. Yet it also comes at a time when Eastern European countries alongside Germany have taken the largest portion of Ukranian refugees, with Po- land alone taking 1.4 million refugees and Germany taking nearly 1 million. From Med 5 to Med 4? In reality the statement itself suggests that the Mediterranean group is now numerically weak- er than it was a few months ago. For while the statement refers to the MED 5 (Malta, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Greece) insisting on a mandatory relocation scheme for rescued migrants, the latest statement was not signed by Spain and was overshadowed by the clash with France over mi- grants rescued by NGOs. Spain's absence suggests ap- prehensions in Madrid over Meloni's open support for the Spanish right-wing Vox party. It also suggests that given a choice between France and Italy, Spain remains closer to its northern neighbour. So Malta ended up teaming with Italy whose far-right gov- ernment is still under probation in its bid to gain international respectability and with Greece and Cyprus, two countries with limited economic and political clout whose handling of mi- grant arrivals have often raised major human rights concerns. And while Spain's actions in its colonial enclave in Mellila have also raised humanitarian concerns, the absence of so- cialist led Spain from the latest statement, deprives it of the le- gitimacy it needs. In fact, Malta is the only signatory among the four nations which is led by a center-left government. Fur- thermore, it is hard to imagine a strong and assertive Medi- terranean grouping in the EU which does not include France and Spain. Moreover, the statement's primary motivation goes be- yond support for a mandatory mechanism and revolves on an insistence that countries issuing their flag to NGO vessels should be held responsible for migrants rescued on the high seas. Apart from doubts on the legality of such of a stance, the statement ignores the reality that NGOs have simply filled in a vacuum created by the absence of a Eu- ropean rescue mission after It- aly shelved its Mare Nostrum mission in 2014. It was subse- quent tragedies and loss of life amongst migrants crossing the Mediterranean which spurred charity boats to take action to save lives amidst what Pope Francis had described as "a glo- balisation of indifference". Meloni flexes her muscles Significantly, the statement by the four Mediterranean nations is overshadowed by an escala- tion in tension between France and Italy. Tensions between the two have escalated since Italy's new government barred the Ocean Viking ship, operated by a French NGO and carrying a Norwegian flag – and with 230 migrants on board – from docking. The ship had initially sought access to Italy's coast, which is closest to where the migrants were picked up, saying health and sanitary conditions onboard were rapidly worsen- ing. France denounced Rome's "unacceptable behaviour" but Italy insisted it has been tak- ing in its share of migrants and called for EU solidarity. In retaliation France, which ultimately allowed the ship to dock in view of humanitarian concerns, suspended a plan to take in 3,500 asylum seekers currently in Italy, thus erasing the progress registered in June. Moreover, Italian belligerence is also viewed with suspicion, being seen as an act of desta- bilisation meant at boosting Le Pen's far right and weaken Ma- cron who lost his parliamentary majority in legislative elections in June. In short, Italy's actions can only reinforce the tradition- al Franco-German leadership of the EU, with the German For- eign Ministry supporting the French stance. So far, the standoff offered the new Italian government with the opportunity of flexing its muscles and thus appease the far rights' electorate and thus compensate for Meloni's conti- nuity with the Draghi agenda on the economy and foreign policy. Yet by using migrants strand- ed at sea as political pawns the Italian government is endan- gering its bid to gain legitimacy in European political corridors, amidst concern in Brussels on Meloni's roots in the Italian far right. In her quest for le- gitimacy, Meloni is aware she is walking on a tight rope in a balancing act between her two deputy PMs; the hawkish Mat- teo Salvini and the more mod- erate Antonio Tajani. Unlike Salvini Meloni has been careful to frame her migration policy in an appeal to "European soli- darity", thus deviating from the far right's xenophobic instincts. But while by making common cause with Italy, Malta could be spared from the bullying tactics Salvini used against it in the past, Malta could be dragged in a game motivated by Meloni's political maneuvering aimed at keeping her coalition intact. Fortress Europe? Italy's clout in Europe is now set to be tested in an extraordi- nary meeting of EU home affairs ministers to discuss the crisis and consider next steps in the action plan. Yet the same two major stumbling blocks for a durable migration pact remain. These are the reluctance of some member states, to accept mandatory mechanisms for ref- ugee relocations and conflicting views on how to reduce or stop departures from north Africa without trampling on asylum rights and relapsing in to a 'For- tress Europe'. While many suspect that this is the ultimate goal of both hard right governments and centrist governments fearing populist electoral gains, none of the solu- tions proposed in past decades like processing asylum claims in human rights hell holes like Libya have made any progress while gains by the far right make progressive solutions like creat- ing legal channels for asylum seekers hard to even propose let alone implement. In fact, Meloni herself was elected on a platform which included a unlikely naval block- ade of Libya to stop departures. Even Malta's Robert Abela in- sists that the long-term solution is stopping departures even if he is vague on how this goal can be achieved without stopping people who deserve protection leaving the hell holes in which they live. Discussions on both curtailing departures and mandatory re- location have been ongoing for decades and a solution carrying a consensus in the EU remains elusive, but failure to reach an agreement risk undermining the sense of European solidari- ty galvanised by the continent's response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.