Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/755517
Newspaper post €1.40 maltatoday Joseph Muscat is Teflon King Death of a hero or a tyrant? maltatoday YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT INSIDE Josanne Cassar Fidel Castro today today SUNDAY • 27 NOVEMBER 2016 • ISSUE 890 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY MALTA-BORN CHILDREN TO BE DEPORTED As the government is about to repatriate 28 Malians, two children born in Malta to Eritrean married couple could be deported together with their parents next year once temporary protection expires PN's two seats go to Edwin Vassallo and Peter Micallef MIRIAM DALLI ALMOST four years after the general election, candidates Edwin Vassallo and Peter Micallef will be returning to parliament thanks to the Constitutional Court's decision allocating the Nationalist opposition another two seats in parliament. The unprecedented decision will see parlia- ment's composition rise from 69 to 71 seats, a first in the history of the Maltese parliament. Vassallo and Micallef were elected to parlia- ment yesterday afternoon following a meeting of the Electoral Commission. Speculation was rife as to who would take the second seat, with the Nationalist Party said to be preferring a co-option. Informed sources told MaltaToday that the PN would have favoured introducing Ann Fenech, president of the party executive, to parliament. But legal experts advised the Electoral Com- mission against co-option, arguing that for the Electoral Commission to be in line with the Constitutional Court's judgement, the MP must have contested the 2013 elections. PAGE 12 Omid Djalili - "Immigration crisis' might be one of the biggest lies we've ever fallen for" - PG 33 25 13 9 Former MP eyeing justice minister's district Franco Debono JURGEN BALZAN A married couple who have been in Malta for 11 years are to be deported to Eritrea once their Temporary Humanitarian Protec- tion – N(ew) [THP-n] will expire in Au- gust 2017. The couple who wanted to remain anonymous, fearing further repercus- sions, told MaltaToday "we cannot understand why they are doing this to us. Why do they want to uproot our family from Malta. This is where our two children, aged eight and seven, were born and where they go to school and where they have friends. Malta is ef- fectively our country. Our children were born in Malta yet they'll be deported once our temporary protection expires." The Christian Eritrean couple came to Malta in 2005, when they got mar- ried and had two daugh- ters, yet they have been informed that once their THP-n will expire they will no longer be able to work and live le- gally in Malta. As they were refused refu- gee status and now will lose their THP- n, the cou- ple fear that once they cannot work legally they will not be able to lead a normal life. "We both work full-time jobs, we both pay our taxes and we do not take one cent in social benefits," the couple said. "Our life is in Malta and we do not know what will happen to us if our work permit is revoked. How will we pay our rent? How will we pay the bills? How will we provide for our children?" This week, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that people whose THP-n expires should be deported because they are in Malta ille- gally, even if they had been in Malta for a long time. Speaking on Saviour Balzan's programme Xtra on TVM, Muscat said "We would have no credibility with the EU if, after we have been in- sisting so much on the country not being able to take in immigrants, we fail to repatriate im- migrants who have been found to be here illegally." But the apprehensive Eritrean couple are still stunned by the prospect of being deported and said "we are afraid of what will happen to us. We can- not escape or go to another European country. We sim- ply want to lead a normal life here." PAGE 4 Joseph Muscat: No credibility with the EU if we fail to repatriate immigrants found to be here illegally Edwin Vassallo (left) and Peter Micallef