Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/599604
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 11 NovEmbEr 2015 3 News Leaders want long-term migration solutions from Valletta summit European Parliament president martin Schulz and European Council president Donald Tusk say European and African leaders should use valletta summit wisely to agree on concrete joint measures to tackle migration crisis at source Tim Diacono EuropEan parliament presi- dent Martin Schulz and European Council president Donald Tusk have called on European and afri- can leaders to make use of today's Valletta summit to thrash out concrete, long-term solutions to Europe's refugee crisis. In a joint address at the Maltese parliament – a historic first for the leaders of these two European institutions – Schulz and Tusk insisted that European countries must invest in the development of africa. "as long as war continues, peo- ple will continue to flee, and as long as people face persecution in their homeland, they will seek protection elsewhere," Schulz said. "Let's stop patching up short term solutions, and use the summit to come up with long-term solutions through which Europe will invest in africa's development, support good governance, boost local economies through trade, create legal channels for migration, boost search and rescue operations, and fight human smugglers. "our strategy can never consist of fighting migrants, but in fight- ing the root causes of migration, conflict and poverty." He called on Eu member states to invest significantly in a new Eu Emergency Trust Fund for africa that will be set up during the two- day summit and to which the Eu- ropean Commission has already contributed €1.8 billion. "This will be money well in- vested and will make a difference to human life," he said. "This is a European problem, and Euro- pean problems can only be solved through European answers. "after the 2008 financial crisis, it became clear that we could no longer conceive of our economies as closed black boxes but as ex- tremely interconnected. The new crisis that affects us all is about saving human lives and safeguard- ing European values." He hailed Malta as a "tremen- dously successful melting pot" of different cultures, citing its cui- sine and language. "When I first came to Malta to learn first hand of the migration challenge posed to the country, I was touched by what I saw – a Maltese fisherman towing a sink- ing vessel into the harbour, a sol- dier rescuing someone from a rubber boat, a nurse attending to a young boy who had collapsed, and volunteers handing out toys to children." Similarly, Tusk warned that afri- ca's economic problems go deeper than a refugee crisis, and that Eu- rope must deal with the key afri- can issues of governance, economy and rule of law while respecting the countries' sovereignty. "We should double the number of placements offered to africans through Erasmus plus, base af- rican officials in Europe to help us identify people who destroy their passports, fund training and education programmes for strug- gling african communities, and provide administrative help and more resources to help africa deal with the huge migration problem within its own continent." 'Perfect time to discuss EU reform' – Muscat In his speech, prime Minister Joseph Muscat didn't discuss the migration crisis, arguing that he would have plenty of time to do so over the next two days. Instead, he hailed his own government's achievements in reducing unem- ployment, expanding the econo- my, reducing the deficit, introduc- ing free childcare, civil unions and a gender identity law. He also called for a proper de- bate on Eu reform, currently be- ing pushed by uK prime minister David Cameron. "This is a perfect time to think about what kind of Europe we would like to live in," he said, while insisting that he would refuse re- form that leads to "greater flex- ibility outside the Eurozone but enhanced rigidity within the monetary union". "The Eu must invest more in its relationships with the rest of the world, and reduce the bureaucracy currently involved in investment between Europe and other coun- tries," he said. "While we should certainly raise our standards, this shouldn't come at the cost of hin- dering business. "protectionism is effective only in the short-term, while opening up the market is the best route to remain competitive." 'Lack of public migration debate' – Busuttil opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil warned that the failure of national parliaments to properly debate people's concerns on im- migration could be leading to a rise in racist and xenophobic sen- timent. "We would be mistaken to brush off the public's concerns on immi- gration, or try to sweep them un- der the carpet," he said. "If we as elected representatives don't dis- cuss immigration, then the popu- lists, xenophobes and racists will do it for us, and we all know what disastrous consequences this can have." Describing the deaths of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean as a "European tragedy", Busuttil said that this summer's influx of Syrian refugees crossing all over Europe has given Eu leaders the chance to finally act on a problem that has long existed. "The challenge of European leaders now is to not accept the globalization of indifference, to show that they can feel the pub- lic's pulse on immigration issues, to show respect for external – and not internal – European borders, and to realize that it is unaccept- able in 2015 for thousands of peo- ple to drown at sea simply because they wanted to seek a better life." 'National institutions cannot face global migration crisis alone' – Muscat marTina Borg aS preparations for today's migra- tion summit were in full swing, prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday said that the Valletta summit was expected to provide both long- and short-term solu- tions to the migration crisis. Speaking during his meeting with European parliament presi- dent Martin Schulz at Castille, Muscat added that national insti- tutions could not be expected to face such a global crisis on their own. "The world has finally realised that this is a global issue," Muscat said, adding that the government looked forward to the discussions during the summit itself and the informal Eu council later on. "We are happy to finally have a global discussion of the matter." Schulz said it was pertinent that the summit would take place in Malta as Muscat had been one of the most ardent in attempting to convince his European colleagues of the urgency of the matter. "The problem is getting worse every day and we cannot answer global issues with national meas- ures," he said. admitting that European leaders have had "various disagreements" on migration, European Council president Donald Tusk said the agreement to hold the summit was "a huge step forward." Speaking during the official visit at the prime Minister's office in Valletta, Tusk said that although the meeting was "hard to organ- ise" he hoped it would lead to clos- er cooperation between European countries and african partners. on his part, Muscat said he was under no illusion that the summit would find a quick fix to the is- sue because "there's no simple or easy solution". However, he said, he hoped that the summit would mark the beginning of discussions towards a future solution. Donald Tusk arriving in Parliament yesterday evening Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (left) greeting Eurpean Parliament President Martin Schulz in Valletta