Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/495652
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 15 APRIL 2015 8 THE European Union should hang its head in shame at how the Medi- terranean Sea has become a cem- etery, former Prime Minister Law- rence Gonzi said. "Malta has become an expert at saving lives at sea, but people are still drowning at our doorsteps," Gonzi told an EU Civil Liberties Committee meeting in Brussels. "Frontex is the EU's life-saving arm of the EU, but we need to start translating words into more action. Frontex needs all the financial and logistical support it needs to carry out its mission successfully." He warned that any future EU migration policy must focus on the burden sharing of migrants among EU member states. "As Prime Minister, I had always argued with passion that burden sharing must be the central pillar of an effective EU migration policy," Gonzi said. "Without it, any new migration policy will not work as the unbalanced pressure on EU countries taking in all the migrants will eventually create social havoc." He pointed out that Malta wel- comed 18,000 irregular migrants in the past decade, by population ratio equivalent to 2.5 million migrants arriving in the United Kingdom. He added that any EU migration policy must differentiate between irregular migrants fleeing from torture, extreme poverty, or other humanitarian crises, and those im- migrating to seek a better econom- ic future for themselves and their families. He insisted that both cases are genuine, but that the problem of irregular migrants fleeing from a humanitarian crisis is far more de- manding and urgent. "Nearly 90% of Malta's migrants come from Eritrea and Somalia," he said. "Practically all the migrants ar- riving on our shores were victims of war, extreme poverty, or other hu- manitarian crises that demanded a European, and not just a Maltese, response." He also said that the repatriation of failed asylum seekers, who have no valid claim to remain in the EU, is "not as easy as one is led to be- lieve". "For some strange and unfath- omable reason, even this has been difficult to implement," Gonzi said. "Returning immigrants to a safe third country requires valid travel documents. "The migration issue is politi- cally sensitive and it provides very strong fodder for all the populist approaches that try to feed on the basic instincts of people, instead of on the basic values which the EU professes to embrace," Gonzi said. "Still, we must adopt an EU ap- proach based on the EU's core val- ues. "The writing is on the wall. We are coping with an unprecedented number of refugees landing on our shores. We face the risk of social unrest and disillusionment in what the EU is supposed to represent." He was speaking at a meeting in Brussels of the European Commit- tee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs to discuss a migra- tion report, of which Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola is a co-rap- porteur. 'Europe must move from tweeted condolences to real action' – Metsola Metsola and Italian MEP Cecile Kyenge were chosen as co-rappor- teurs for this cross-party report in December and the two are expected to launch the actual report in Oc- tober. In her speech, Metsola said that Europe must take a concrete stand on migration and "move from tweeted condolences and empty statements to real action". "Member states bicker about in- creased pull factors while bodies continue to wash up on our beach- es," Metsola said. "It is a situation that we should not tolerate any longer. We should be angry that an- other summer is with us and that it has got this far. "The warning signs have been there for years and in the last months, we have heard warning after warning from NGOs, the UN and our own agencies that the in- stability in Libya will mean that migration flows will increase across the Mediterranean. "We have found the funds, the po- litical will and the assets to practi- cally eradicate piracy off the Somali coast, but we have yet to manage the same commitment to save lives, boost security, tackle crime net- works and address the migration issue with the same vigour." She also insisted that the EU must up its fight against human traffick- ing, the hubs of organised crime that "prey on the most vulnerable of people", and the new phenomenon of "ghost ships" in the Mediterra- nean bearing irregular immigrants but no crew. She warned that the Mediterra- nean's migration problems are a di- rect consequence of the situations in Libya and sub-Saharan Africa. "We need to do more to help the countries in the region to get back on their feet and stop the push fac- tor in the long-term," Metsola said. "In the meantime, the answer is not to fortress Europe. We also need to look at legal migration routes as part of our strategy. "After the Lampedusa tragedy in 2013, the European Parliament passed a crucial cross party reso- lution that helps map the way for- ward on these issues. After all the rhetoric I expected Member States to pick up the baton and push it forward. They have not yet done enough." 'Human traffickers becoming more daring' – Dalli Labour MEP Miriam Dalli said that the EU must work more closely with third countries to tackle the root causes of migration. "We also need to address the situation in Libya, because human smugglers and traffickers are be- coming more daring, forcing mi- grants to board overloaded boats and pushing them towards a jour- ney that can lead to their deaths," Dalli said. She also questioned how the Eu- ropean Commission plans to make Frontex more effective and how it plans to show solidarity with the countries most directly exposed to the problem. 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