Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/571192
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 SEptEmbEr 2015 3 News High number of Libyan visas down to civil war, business, education – Abela Planning to take in 74 refu- gees and putting the armed Forces of Malta's resources at the full disposal of search and rescue missions was a concrete sign of solidarity which Malta was showing, Home affairs Minister Carmelo abela said. addressing a press briefing on Monday's council meeting in Brussels, abela said Malta was already doing its part when asked whether the country could do more. Between 2011 and the begin- ning of this year, over 74,000 visas were issued through the Maltese embassy in libya. Yet, the country was cautious on issuing humanitarian visas to other third country nationals. "Malta has strong economic and business ties with libya and after the uprising, several companies relocated to Malta. This led to businessmen re- questing visas to bring their workers to Malta while others come to attend company meet- ings. Most of the time, they bring their families with them. These people come to Malta, do their business and leave. Some of those granted visas have also requested asylum because of the situation... something which is granted by the Refugee Com- missioner," abela said. While stating that the nec- essary checks and balances would be verified before a visa is granted, the minister added that one shouldn't only focus on the number but also on the "reasons". "Some come for work, others come for education pur- poses. But it is true that the ma- jority of those granted asylum are libyan nationals." italy had taken a political deci- sion to take in refugees rescued out at sea, while Malta would help out with the search and rescue. abela described italy's position as a sign of "political maturity" and one way at solv- ing arguments out at sea on who should take in the rescued peo- ple. Malta's military resources were limited and could not compare to those used by other big coun- tries, abela said, adding that the government would soon invest in an offshore vessel. During the briefing, abela ex- pressed Malta's position that it was time for Europe to act in face of the crisis which has been pil- ing up but which member states kept postponing despite holding several "emergency talks". "We've had numerous meet- ings discussing an emergency situation, yet these emergencies have escalated. Therefore, the concept of solidarity remains pivotal because now it's no longer a question of a handful of states but the whole of the EU," he said. abela said it was equally im- portant for the member states to agree on relocating refugees from italy and greece and on "a fair mechanism" for their distri- bution. in the original quota mecha- nism, the EU had proposed that a country's unemployment rate would serve as criteria. This, he added, would have impacted Malta negatively and the Coun- cil now agreed to cap the fig- ures. Malta had pledged to take 60 (of 40,000) refugees from italy and greece and 14 (of 20,000) from third countries. no agreement was reached as yet on the Commission's pro- posal to relocate 120,000 refu- gees. The ministers also proposed to re-evaluate the Dublin regu- lation. Repatriation also re- mained a key issue where Eu- rope only managed to send back fewer than 40% of failed asylum seekers. abela said the forthcoming EU-africa Summit to be held in Valletta in november was be- ing looked forward to by several Member States as an opportu- nity to address key points with countries of origin and transit. The minister said the bone of contention remained whether the quota scheme would be vol- untary or mandatory "despite all member states expressing their position in favour of helping". Turning to Syria, abela said there was almost no commu- nication with assad's govern- ment. Ministers yesterday heard the United nations High Commis- sioner for Refugees, antónio guterres, and the Director gen- eral of the international Or- ganization for Migration, Wil- liam lacy Swing, underlining the alarming situation of people f leeing conf lict regions in huge numbers. The ministers were told that the sudden spike of refugees moving to the East of Europe was also a result of deteriorating situations at refugee camps. But the show of weak compro- mise has seen a number of EU leaders, led by german Chan- cellor angela Merkel, calling for an emergency meeting of EU leaders. Council president Don- ald Tusk said he would continue his consultations with the heads of government and announce his decision on Thursday. "a majority of member states are on the same page," abela said, however noting that it was a cause of concern that Hungary – with Europe calling for a show of solidarity – was refusing help and instead resorting to build- ing walls. asked about the issue of se- curity when facing an inf lux of people, abela said it was irre- sponsible to equate migration with a security risk but it didn't mean that countries shouldn't monitor who comes in: "Know- ing the people is important and thus it is important to strength- en Frontex and other operation- al organisations." The guardian has reported that European governments are aiming to deny the right of asy- lum to refugees by funding and building camps for them in af- rica and elsewhere outside the EU. asked about this, abela said the camps would be under the leadership of UnHCR, as part of a solution in which persons are no longer in war zones and one would be containing the inf lux. "it is not excluded that there would be resettlement programmes," abela said add- ing that the camps would be in "safe zones". Families paying the price for government scandals' – PN pN says that those with the lowest income are paying for the government's scandals MArtinA Borg SHaDOW social policy minister Paula Mifsud Bonnici said that members of the public were pay- ing the price for the scandals the government had been embroiled in over the past two years. "it is the families with the lowest income that are hit the worst," she added, stressing that these scandals were also affect- ing the way the government it- self operated. addressing a news conference, Mifsud Bonnici said that the nationalist Party would be dis- tributing leaf lets showing the scandals that the public had had to pay for, including the Café Premier scandal which had cost the country some €4.2 million. Housing spokesperson Stephen Spiteri said that the government had created a division in soci- ety by favouring those who were close to it, at the expense of the neediest groups in society. "The housing authority has been manned by those closest to the government and it has even raised rents for housing estates," Spiteri said. He added that the government had even raised costs, for in- stance in exam fees, which con- tinue to oppress those at risk of poverty. "although we have seen a 0.2% drop in the number of those at risk of poverty, the Pn will con- tinue to look at absolute num- bers, and to fight for the needs of those 100,000 still facing eco- nomic strife," he said, referring to recent nSO statistics that showed that poverty rates had dropped to 23.8% compared to 24% during the previous year. Mifsud Bonnici added that the government needed to stay true to its word and "eradicate pov- erty", as it had promised before the general elections. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Federica Mogherini with Maltese home affairs minister Carmelo Abela