Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/163731
10 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2013 Sweden's asylum burden and Malta's proportionately the same Maltese politicians don't tell the electorate that Sweden receives as many asylum claims, as a proportion of its population, as Malta MATTHEW VELLA SMALL. Wealthy. Highly-urbanised. In 2013, the island of Malta jealously guards some of the most appealing of attributes. Relatively low levels of crime, amazing weather and a skilled and multilingual workforce. Democratic stability has contributed to uninterrupted flows of foreign investment – over €12 billion in the last year. So why do African asylum seekers get the national dander up? Malta has so far received 1,840 asylum seekers – two-thirds of them from Horn of Africa countries like Somalia and Eritrea – under a new Labour government which has already been stopped by the European Court of Human Rights from effecting an illegal deportation. But throwaway comments by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat that Joseph Muscat Cecilia Malmström Malta's burden should be taken up by such countries as Sweden – home country of the EU's Immigration Commissioner Cecilia Malmström – has been put paid by data showing the reality of Malta's asylum burden. Politicians claim large European Union member states should take a fair share of the Mediterranean's asylum seekers due to the disproportionate burden on southern member states like Malta. But data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees puts such an argument in dispute, especially with regards to Sweden, whose commissioner was the target of social media invective from supporters of the migrant pushbacks that the Maltese government attempted earlier this year. At a total of 9,000 asylum claims between 2008 and 2012, Malta's burden is not comparable to that of France, Germany or Sweden – respectively 232,000, 201,000 and 153,900 claims over these same years. But as a percentage of Malta's small population, the numbers ap- pear different. In 2012, the island received 2,060 claims for protection – a total of 4.9 claims for every 1,000 persons living here. This means Malta has the most claims in Europe (expressed as a percentage per 1,000 persons). But two countries rank near Malta: Sweden, with its 9.5 million population, which in 2012 took 43,890 claims (a 48% increase over 2011) – putting the ratio there at 4.6%. And then tiny Luxembourg, whose population is similar to Malta's, is at 4%, with 2,050 claims. Electoral campaign cost PN €2.2 million ALTHOUGH they might have lacked creativity and effectiveness, the PN spent €438,000 on billboards. The 2013 electoral campaign cost the Nationalist Party €2.2 million, according to figures published by the party today. In a brief statement the PN said that during the three-month campaign, the longest in recent history, the party received €1.8 million in donations, meaning that the party was €367,705 in the red by the end of the campaign. PN Secretary-General Chris Said explained that the party published the summary of accounts "in full respect of accountability and transparency with the aim of giving the public a complete account of the party's expenditure during the electoral campaign." In total the PN collected €2,208,705, with €1,533,000 being collected in three telethons and €308,000 in "other donations." As for its expenditure, the mass meetings and other public events organised prior to the 9 March election cost the party €1,028,915 while the billboards which were planted in every corner of Malta and Gozo cost the PN €438,000. Publications and leaflets cost the PN a further €400,000 and online and printed ads cost just over €340,000. In April, the PN hit out at Labour's CEO Gino Cauchi, who had revealed that the party spent €1.5 million on its election campaign. The PN had said that unlike Labour it would be publishing detailed accounts. However, although both parties state that they are in favour of stricter partyfinancing legislation, so far they have only provided a fleeting summary, which pales in comparison to standard practices abroad. Malta on Syria FOREIGN Affairs Minister George Vella yesterday said that convincing evidence had been provided by US Secretary of State John Kerry showing that the Syrian regime was behind the chemical attacks which killed hundreds last week. However, the minister reiterated the government's strong reservations against any military intervention or retaliation against the Assad regime. Vella pointed out that in a previous statement the government had said "there exists no hundred per cent proof that these chemical poisons were used by the Assad regime." However, in today's statement Vella said convincing information had been given Friday by Secretary of State John Kerry: satellite images showed evidence of rockets, fired from regime-controlled areas, striking neighbourhoods where the chemical attacks reportedly occurred. "This makes the case against the As- sad regime, as being the perpetrator and the one responsible for these heinous acts, more plausible and more credible," Vella said. He added that Malta "unreservedly" condemned the perpetrators of such heinous crimes and reiterated "its firm belief that such atrocious crimes cannot go unpunished and that those responsible should eventually be held responsible for their actions according to international law." "This stand against any military action is based on the fact that any military intervention, however small, in such a turbulent region will in all probability ignite the whole region and lead to an escalation of hostilities upon which no one will have any control whatsoever." Vella appealed to the international community and to the United Nations Security Council to lead the way towards diplomatic solutions and the convening of the Geneva II Conference.