Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/944442
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2018 News 6 ANALYSIS THE Gonzi administration conducted its diplomacy on migration in the shadow of the hawkish Berlusconi govern- ment in Italy, which included the Lega Nord, an anti-immi- grant right-wing party. Both the Nationalist govern- ment and the Labour Opposi- tion supported a controversial Italian policy of turning back to Libya illegal migrants found on the high seas in the Medi- terranean. The policy was later found in breach of fundamen- tal human rights. But the two governments also squabbled over responsi- bility for migrants rescued on the high seas, with then Op- position leader Joseph Muscat calling on Gonzi to protect the national interest as the Italians were doing. Squabbling over stranded migrants Underlying the dispute be- tween Malta and Italy was the latter's insistence that Malta should take in all immigrants rescued in its oversized Search and Rescue Area. Malta's SAR area is large – at some 250,000 square kilome- tres, it is roughly the size of Great Britain, spanning from Tunisia to Greece. Malta consistently insisted that rescued migrants should be taken to the first port of call which in many cases would be Lampedusa, even if the mi- grants had been saved in Mal- ta's SAR. It was only after a four-day standoff and a telephone con- versation between Prime Min- ister Lawrence Gonzi and Ita- ly's premier Silvio Berlusconi, that Italy's Justice Minister Roberto Maroni gave in to ac- cept 140 migrants stranded on the Turkish cargo ship Pinar E in international waters off Lampedusa in April 2009. The second major standoff took place in April 2011 when a boat of 171 immigrants was rescued by the AFM near Lampedusa. The Italian au- thorities refused entry to the Maltese vessel forcing it to bring the migrants to Malta. Joseph Muscat praised Italy for defending its national inter- est by blocking the boat's entry into Lampedusa and called on Malta to do likewise. Subsequently following a comment by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which suggested that the group should have been rescued by the Italians, Muscat called on Gonzi to send the migrants to Italy. Gonzi rubbished the sugges- tion asking: "Since when have we been treating human beings as merchandise...?" "How can one go onto a child or a man and tell them, 'I saved you from death, now tonight I'm going to pack you up, put you in a plane and send you to Italy. Doesn't he know that to do this, one would be violating fundamental human rights?" The elusive Libyan solution As the flow of boat peo- ple grew after 2004, reach- ing a peak of 2775 in 2008, Italy sought to block the flow through a controversial agree- ment with Gaddafi's Libya. In 2009 Italy intercepted migrants adrift and returned them to Libya. In 2012 the Eu- ropean court of human rights decreed the Italian pushbacks illegal. Although Malta never adopt- ed a similar policy, a day after Italy repatriated the first group of migrants; Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bon- nici had come out supporting Italy's agreement with Libya. Speaking during a debate at the European Parliament in 2010 on the incidents in the Mediterranean involving ille- gal immigrants, Simon Busuttil said the Italian policy was giv- ing results. "Although it was understand- able to ask questions on Italy's policy of returning migrants to Libya, it is indisputable that, as a result of these returns, the number of arrivals this year was down on last year and so were the number of tragic deaths," he told MEPs. The agreement did result in a lull in migrant arrivals in 2010. But Gaddafi started using the agreement to extort more con- cessions from Italy and the EU threatening to turn Europe black if his demands for money were not accepted. Numbers immediately picked up after the collapse of the Lib- yan regime in the Arab spring. Ironically eight years down the line, Italy and the EU are still seeking a durable agreement with Libya to stop the migra- tion flow. Muscat toys with pushbacks It was a deliberate choice on Muscat's part to turn migra- tion into the main issue of the MEP elections held in June, 2009. Just three months be- fore his first electoral test as PL leader, Muscat sent shockwaves by presenting a hawkish plan to parliament which vaguely hinted at Malta suspending its "international obligations" if numbers of migrants were to reach a critical point. He even suggested putting the plan to a referendum and letting the people decide. On the eve of the 2013 gen- eral elections, during a quick question-and-answer session, Labour leader Joseph Muscat made it clear that he would not "exclude pushbacks". On his part Lawrence Gonzi From Maroni to Salvini: A full Berlusconi's declaration on Saturday that migrants saved close to Malta "will have to be taken to and disembarked in Malta," has re- evoked memories of past standoffs between the Gonzi and Berlusconi administrations. JAMES DEBONO asks: Will Muscat now suffer the same fate? Faced with an Italian right-wing government, Muscat may strive for common ground on a tougher stance uniting the two governments against European migration policies while seeking new agreements with Libya to keep migrants from making the crossing Matteo Salvini, the new leader of Lega Nord