Fl-aħħar mill-aħħar, fil-maġġoranza tiegħu, il-poplu Brittaniku ddeċieda favur li joħroġ mill-Unjoni Ewropea. Jien wieħed minn dawk li ma stennejtx ir-riżultat, imma lanqas ma ssorprendejt ruħi bih. Dan għax kont smajt kif il-magna elettorali tal-kamp tal-Ibqa’ ma kinitx qed taħdem tajjeb, waqt li l-messaġġ tagħha kien wisq elitista.
Issa l-“Ewropej” iridu jiddeċiedu kif se jorganizzaw il-ħruġ tar-Renu Unit. Lil hinn mis-sura li r-relazzjoni tagħhom mar-Renju għandha tieħu, iridu qabel jiddeċiedu b’liema sieq se jilagħbu l-ballun.
Għandhom joħolqu malajr relazzjoni ġdida mal-Unjoni Ewropea li żżommhom qrib ta’ xulxin? U allura jinnegozjaw bl-“artab”?
Jew se jqisu li jekk jagħmlu hekk, se jkunu qegħdin jagħtu ħeġġa lil forzi politiċi f’pajjiżi membri oħra li huma wkoll iridu li joħorġu? U allura jaqblilhom jinnegozjaw bl-“iebes”?
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Immigrazzjoni
L-immigrazzjoni, kif wieħed seta’ jistenna, spiċċat suġġett ewlieni fil-kampanja tar-referendum Britanniku. Se tibqa’ tkun hekk fl-aġitazzjoni politika Ewropea tax-xhur li ġejjin. Dan għandu t-tajjeb u l-ħażin tiegħu.
Minn naħa se jkollhom jiżdiedu l-isforzi biex il-materja kollha tiġi trattata b’mod qawwi u effettiv. Sa issa dan ma ġarax. Kulħadd ipprefera jħalli l-affarijiet għaddejja sakemm kienu qed jaffettwaw ħażin lill-ġar.
Biss, kampanji dwar l-immigrazzjoni jqajmu l-polemika, iħarrxu d-diskors u jqanqlu sentimenti razzisti fost il-popli.
Il-fenomenu hu kumpless. L-Ewropa tista’ tagħmel aktar biex tgħin lir-refuġjati. Numru sostanzjali ta’ ċittadini jħossuhom skomdi bir-refuġjati u ma jriduhomx.
Numru sostanzjali ieħor, għalkemm iċken x’aktarx fid-daqs, irid jilqa’ lill-immigranti b’dirgħajn miftuħa mingħajr ma jidħol fil-kwistjoni ta’ kif komunitajiet sħaħ iħossuhom milquta ħażin b’hekk.
Ċerti pajjiżi tal-Unjoni Ewropea għandhom bżonn ikabbru l-popolazzjoni tagħhom billi jdaħħlu l-immigranti.
Ħafna mill-isforzi biex l-immigranti jintegraw tajjeb fil-komunitajiet nazzjonali fejn jaslu, ma rnexxewx.
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Laqgħa f’Wied il-Għajn
Nhar il-Ġimgħa li għadda, taħt is-sigla tal-partit tas-soċjalisti u d-demokratiċi Ewropej, l-uffiċċju tiegħi organizza laqgħa pubblika, għand l-Inspire f’Wied il-Għajn, dwar l-immigrazzjoni u t-terroriżmu fl-Ewropa. Kien għadu kemm tħabbar ir-riżultat tar-referendum Ingliż u l-Brexit iddomina d-diskussjoni li tqanqlet.
Ma ddispjaċinix li ġara hekk. Wara kollox hemm rabta ħajja bejn it-tliet materji.
Kienu pajjiżi Ewropej, fosthom l-istess Renju Unit, li bl-indħil tagħhom f’pajjiżi Għarab ipprovokaw parti mit-tqanqil tal-immigrazzjoni li qed iġġarrab l-Ewropa. Il-pjaga tat-terroriżmu ġej mill-Iżlam radikaliżżat hi riflessjoni wkoll tal-politika ta’ immigrazzjoni u integrazzjoni li tmexxiet fl-aħħar deċennji, b’riżultati ambigwi.
Ir-referendum Ingliż ta lok għal dibattitu li se jibqa’ għaddej, dwar jekk risposta għal dawn l-iżviluppi tridx tingħata per mezz ta’ għaqda Ewropea jew billi kull pajjiż jirranġa biex iżomm rajh f’idejh.

English Version – Soft or tough?

At the end, the majority of the British people decided in favour of leaving the EU. I am one of those who did not expect, but were not surprised by, the result. Not least because I had heard how the get out the vote machine of the Remain camp was malfunctioning, while its message had been too elitist.

Now the “Europeans” must decide how to organize the UK’s departure. Beyond the shape that their relations with the UK had better assume, they must first decide how to play the ball.

Should they quickly establish a new relationship with the EU that would keep both sides close to each other? And therefore should they proceed “softly”?

Or should they consider that by doing so, they would encourage those political forces in member countries which would also like to secure an exit? And they had better therefore adopt a “tough” approach?

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Immigration

As was to be expected, immigration ended up a prime topic in the British referendum campaign. It will remain like so in the coming months of political agitation that will be going on in Europe. There will be pluses and minuses in this.

On the one hand, efforts must increase to deal with the whole matter in a comprehensive and effective manner. As of now, this has failed to happen. All concerned preferred to let matters proceed unchecked so long as they were only having negative repercussions on neighbours.

However, campaigns about immigration have the effect of generating polemics, coarsening political discourse and stimulating racist sentiments among ordinary people.

We are dealing with a complex phenomenon.

Europe can do more to help refugees.

Yet, a substantial number of its citizens feel uncomfortable with the presence of refugees and would like not to have them around.

Quite a substantial lot of others, though possibly less in number, would welcome immigrants with open arms without bothering about whether whole communities will feel adversely affected by this.

Some EU member states need to increase their population by admitting migrants.

Many of the efforts carried out to ensure that migrants integrate well in the communities where they arrive, have been unsuccessful.

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Marsascala meeting

Last Friday, my office organized a public meeting under the emblem of the European party of socialists and democrats at Inspire in M’scala. The scheduled discussion was about immigration and terrorism in Europe. The result of the British referendum had just been announced and Brexit dominated the debate that took place.

I wasn’t too displeased about this. After all the three subjects are intimately linked.

European countries among which the UK, provoked in part the surge of immigration being experienced by Europe following their intervention in Arab countries. The threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism is also a consequence of the immigration and integration policies implemented in past decades, which achieved ambiguous results.

The British referendum opened a new space for the ongoing debate about whether a response to these developments should be given in the context of a Europe-wide union, or by allowing each and every country to retain control over its affairs.

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