Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509248
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 OCTOBER 2023 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt Europe is slowly but surely 'inching Ever since 2020, the Europe- an Union has been discussing a new Asylum and Migration Pac'; and while there have been several reported 'break- throughs', over the years… we still seem to be no closer to a final agreement. The latest round of these talks (Med-9), were held in Malta last month. So what sort of outcome were you hoping for; and what is your reaction to the actual out- come (such that it was)? OK: let me start by just giving some context, because it's impor- tant to understand the backdrop against which these discussions are taking place. First of all, the EU has had common rules on asylum since around 2002/2003. There have been a number of reforms since then: because there's always the idea that they want to improve the legislative package, to make it more efficient, more effective, etc… Nonetheless, at the moment we DO have common asylum rules: which are far from perfect, mind you… but they're there; and they're quite solid, and quite ro- bust. The problem with the current system, however, is that there are some member states (includ- ing Hungary, Poland, Italy, and others) which - because of an increasing right-wing sentiment in the country - have basically de- cided to stop obeying those rules. They're sort of 'opting out', of the legal system that currently exists. And unfortunately, what has happened is that the other mem- ber states - with this idea of try- ing to create as much unity as possible - have decided to revisit the existing rules, again; to make them more 'palatable' to as many member states as possible. Essentially, this means 'lowering standards' to get more member states on board… The member states you men- tion – especially Italy – seem to have considerable influence over the direction of the EU's migration policy. Last month, Italian prime Minister Giorgia Meloni insisted that she would only agree to any 'new migra- tion pact', if it contained a 'con- demnation of rescue NGOs, op- erating in the Mediterranean'. Just a few days ago, Council of Europe President Charles Michel echoed that sentiment, by openly questioning the work of these NGOs. Do you feel, then, that the European Union itself is gravitating to- wards the Far Right? Our feeling is definitely that: yes, member states are increas- ingly moving towards the right, in terms of their approach to human rights. The sentiment you men- tioned, about targeting NGOs, had also been expressed by Byron Camilleri, our own Home Affairs Minister, some time ago. It's very worrying, to us, that member states - instead of pull- ing their own socks up, and ful- filling their legal obligations – are simply picking on those entities who ARE ultimately saving lives. Because I think we must em- phasize, and keep repeating, that the NGOs out at sea are saving lives. Let's face it: the Mediterra- nean has become Europe's largest cemetery. The amount of people dying each year, is simply stagger- ing… But this movement to the right, that we're seeing across Europe, is worrying for other reasons. One of the problems right now - and this is something that people really should understand - is that this right-wing sentiment is not just targeted against 'black peo- ple', or 'immigrants' in general. If, again, you look at Hungary, Poland, and even Italy: we're now starting to see attacks on other minorities. The LGBT popula- tion, for example: Poland had its very famous 'LGBT-Free Cities', and 'LGBT-Free Zones'… and now Meloni has decided to pick on lesbian mothers; and remove their motherhood, in terms of le- gal status. So when we speak about the rise of the right wing, our concern is not that it's only going to affect refugees and migrants… but oth- er extremely vulnerable groups, too. Because once a government feels that it can take back some- one's rights… there's no stopping it. And that is our big fear. We're already starting to see it spread, to other parts of Europe… The implications of what you're saying are that – assuming that any final agreement is even reached, all – the 'New Asylum and Migration Pact' itself will be at least partly 'dictated by the Far Right'. So what sort of agreement are you actually ex- pecting? Now: we – and by 'we', I'm re- ferring to a huge coalition of hu- man rights NGOs, all over Eu- rope - have been battling this new reform for a number of years, precisely because we are worried at the direction it is taking. What we've been seeing, is that the new package - which the Commission wants to have adopted before next year's EP elections; because once the elec- tions are over, so are the dis- cussions – is only going to keep setting human rights standards extremely, extremely low. For example: there's a lot of emphasis on 'mandatory use of detention', across all the border states. So countries like Greece, Malta, and eastern borders will have to use even more deten- tion, to control the EU's borders: including detention of families, children, and other vulnerable groups. Meanwhile, there's very little in terms of changing the rule that 'the first country you've entered, will be the country handling the asylum process'… The infamous 'Dublin 2 Treaty', you mean? (which Malta has been protesting about for dec- ades)? Yes. And to us, that's very im- portant. Because there's very little, in the new rules, which changes the problems that we all know to exist, in Dublin II. So people are basically going to remain stuck, in very difficult cir- cumstances. The new rules also make it ex- tremely difficult for refugees to actually get an asylum proce- dure, even in those 'countries of first-entry'. They include restric- tions on eligibility; and they place obstacles on how you can actually get to the stage of the interview … all of which will make it very, very difficult for people to actually get a proper asylum procedure: as is their right, according to interna- tional law. Again, this is all in the interest of having more member states, sign- ing up to the new rules… which inevitably means that, around the negotiating table – which is now increasingly made up of Far Right governments - the standards are only going to just keep plummet- ing. So what we have been focus- ing on, as NGOs, is campaigning with the European Parliament: because our hope lies with the EP, now that it has been made a co-legislator. Now, the European Parliament has at least the poten- tial to push those standards back up again… and hopefully, even higher. Human rights activist NEIL FALZON, of the NGO Aditus, warns that – by appeasing Far Right governments – the European Union risks lowering its own standards of human rights protection