Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/201600
7 News maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2013 Busuttil accuses Muscat of being 'sheepish' with EU leaders on migration JURGEN BALZAN OPPOSITION leader Simon Busuttil accused the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of using "cowboy tactics" over migration when addressing local audiences but transforming himself into a "sheep" when addressing the EU summit held last week. Reminding Muscat that the Opposition "still has friends" within the EU council of leaders, Busuttil said that the Prime Minister played tough when in Malta but "turned into a sheep" when addressing EU leaders behind closed doors, "despite trying to give an impression that he stood his ground". Busuttil was replying to the prime minister's declaration on last week's summit held in Brussels. In his statement, Muscat said that migration was placing a "disproportionate weight" on Malta and the country had to "stand up to be counted" to avoid further tragedies. Addressing Parliament yesterday evening, Muscat had a dig at the opposition and said that in last week's EU summit, Malta "rediscovered its voice" and enjoyed the support of all Socialist prime ministers. "Now it's up to others to carry out their duties within their political groupings," he said in a clear invitation to opposition leader Simon Busuttil seated across the House to convince prime ministers within the centre-right political family to support Malta's calls for EU action on migration. Muscat said that Malta rediscovered its "voice of reason" and although aware of its limitations and size, "it will not be trampled on by anyone". Once again, Muscat chose to describe the issue as "illegal migra- tion", "highlighting his conscious decision to use the term 'illegal' when addressing Maltese audiences and 'irregular' when addressing international fora such as the United Nations general assembly. Insisting that his government shed the inferiority complex which characterised former PN administrations, Muscat pointed out that the current government decided to "create an unprecedented movement on illegal migration". He added that after setting off on this journey alone, Malta won the backing of Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Claiming that for the "first time ever" EU leaders agreed to make a commitment to take clear decisions on migration, Muscat said that he was not satisfied with this and requested a "concrete commitment and timeframe". "Therefore, I asked my colleagues when such decisions would be taken. They mentioned June, but I did not mince my words and made it clear that June would be too late. We would only be postponing the problem," Muscat said. He added that Malta and the eight other countries backing its position pushed the deadline forward to December and requested a "written commitment". Muscat said that these requests were accepted by the European Council and acknowledged the insistence for "urgent short-term actions". This commitment would translate in operational decisions which should give a priority to the relocation of refused asylum seekers by plane "in the shortest time possible". If need be, Muscat said, Malta would issue travelling documents and this process "should fall under EU responsibility". Another priority, Muscat said, was the setting up of centres in transit countries, where asylum applications would be processed and if refused, migrants would be discouraged to take risks to reach Europe by sea. He also said that another priority would be easier access to EU funds for Malta and other member states. In his reply, Busuttil stressed that the opposition shares the government's aims on migration, adding: "I hope that both sides of the House work together for the country's benefit, but this should be done in a humane way because we are dealing with human beings here." The PN leader however said that "we agree on the aims, but we have differences in the method. We disagree with the Prime Minister's assessment on the results obtained and we also disagree on the style of negotiations". Questioning the Prime Minister's claims that Malta was "successful in the European Council meeting because we stood firm," Busuttil said that Muscat was unbeatable when it comes to words, but "he still came back empty handed". The opposition leader also asked whether he should believe the government's boasts that it managed to convince Europe to take action or the summit's conclusions, which stated that decisions would be taken but made no mention of the implementation of such decisions. "There is also a big difference between the prime minister's statements, including his comments tonight, and reports in the international press, which said that leaders failed to make progress and lacked the will to resolve the migration issue," Busuttil said. "The prime minister claimed to have scored a victory and overcame an inferiority complex while international media was describing the summit as a failure," he said. Busuttil also dispelled claims that the prime minister's pressure changed the summit's agenda, and said that there was no reference to operational decisions and relocation of migrants in the summit's conclusions. "You were so critical of the previous administration, yet you have not managed to convince Europe to make clear commitments on relocation of migrants in writing," he said, adding that the summit also failed to specifically mention mandatory burden sharing. "Maybe you will manage one day, and I will be behind you if you do so, however you have come back from Brussels empty handed." Answering Muscat's call to convince centre-right prime ministers to back Malta's requests, Busuttil said: "You do not only have a duty to convince Socialist prime ministers, but as prime minister you have to convince all prime ministers, whether they belong to the Socialist Party or the People's Party." He added that the PN disagrees with the style employed by Muscat and the discourse used, and taking a dig at Muscat's opposition to EU membership in 2003, Busuttil said that the only persons suffering from an inferiority complex where those who campaigned against EU accession. Adding that Muscat's "cowboy" style was damaging Malta's bargaining power, Busuttil reminded the House that previous PN administrations, which the prime minister described as suffering from an inferiority complex, had obtained over one billion euros in EU funds in the forthcoming multi-annual financial framework. In his reply to the opposition's questions, Muscat said that it was unacceptable for the opposition to support government's efforts on "illegal migration" on certain conditions. Rebutting Busuttil's claims that the Opposition knew what was said within the European Council meeting, Muscat said he knew what was being said within the opposition's headquarters. In reply to whether the EU would implement its decisions in December, Muscat repeated that he had set a deadline for operational decisions to be taken, however he failed to say whether these would be implemented. "We are after short-term measures, with the return flights of refused asylum seekers being our main priority," Muscat said. He also pointed out that Frontex was failing in its remit on the relocation of refused migrants and said that the leader of the opposition was wrong is believing that Malta can relocate migrants outside of Frontex, because third countries are not accepting travelling documents issued by Malta. "These countries in Africa which receive development aid from Europe have to accept these travel documents, otherwise aid should be suspended," Muscat said. The prime minister expressed his optimism that Libya can play an important role in the EU's efforts to stop the flow of migrants, however he said: "I am convinced we can strike a deal with Libya but firstly Libya needs to stabilise. The Libyan government is also prepared to sign such a deal with us, however it is not considered to be a safe country by the EU." Maltese online shoppers quadruple over five years INTERNET access in the EU28 is widespread and in the EU28 in 2012, 75% of individuals aged 16 to 74 had used the internet in the previous 12 months, and nearly 60% of these internet users reported that they had shopped online. Among the member states, the highest shares of online shoppers were registered in the United Kingdom (82% of internet users), Denmark and Sweden (both 79%), Germany (77%), Luxembourg (73%) and Finland (72%), and the lowest in Romania (11%), Bulgaria (17%), Estonia and Italy (both 29%). The same data shows that the Maltese regularly use the internet for the purchase of clothes (36%), travel (21%), and books (20%) – altogether the number of Maltese who use the internet for shopping has quadrupled since 2008. In the context of the European Year of citizens 2013, the week from 14 to 20 October 2013 is dedicated to "Shopping online". On this occasion, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes data on online purchases by individuals coming from its annual survey on Information and Communication Tech- nologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals. In the EU28, ordering clothes and sports goods and booking travel and holiday accommodation are the most common online purchases amongst internet users. For both clothes and sports goods and travel & holiday accommodation, one third of internet users purchased online during the previous 12 months (both 32% in 2012 compared with 21% in 2008). Almost one quarter of internet users in the EU28 reported that they bought books, magazines or e-learning material from the internet (23% in 2012 compared with 19% in 2008), while fewer than one internet user in 10 ordered food and groceries online (9% in 2012 compared with 6% in 2008). Among member states in 2012, the United Kingdom (51%) and Germany (49%) had the highest shares of internet users having purchased clothes and sports goods online in the previous 12 months. Sweden (60%) had the highest proportion reporting that they booked travel and holiday accommodation online, followed by Denmark (56%). Buying books, magazines or e-learning material online was most common in Luxem- bourg (47%) and Germany (41%). The United Kingdom (21%) was the lead- ing member state for online food and grocery shopping, while in the ma- jority of member states this share was 10% or less. Public Foundation "Journalists in Danger" 'Kazakhstan: Victims of Torture speak out' A public hearing to discuss Malta's role in the investigation of torture suffered by Mr. Afanassenko and Mr. Ibraev. With special guest 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Ms. Rozlana Taukina from NGO 'Journalists in Danger'. 'Europa House', 254, St. Paul's Street, Valletta 30th October at 10.00 Refreshments will be served. Organised by aditus foundation 2010 6295 | inter@aditus.org.mt