Malta’s share to Turkey to keep refugees from Syria: €1.1 million

The collapse of the Schengen area is not in Malta’s interests. Addressing the general meeting of the B’kara Labour Party Centre, former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that one danger is that the Schengen area by which Europeans travel without frontier controls all over most of Western Europe could collapse in the next two months. ‘That would not be in Malta’s interest. The fundamental problem is that though the only way by which to contain the crisis is through a European solution, there is no real agreement between member states of the EU on the issue. Member states are not keeping their commitments and they are not trusting each other.’ emphasised Dr. Sant.
Dr. Sant said there are two areas where Malta needs to follow with attention. The first is the agreement with Turkey by which the EU is now trying to convince Turkey to keep on its territory the refugees flowing from Syria. The EU has promised Turkey the sum of 3 billion euros as compensation. 1 billion euros will come from the EU’s budget, member states will contribute the remaining 2 billion. Malta’s share of this as of now is 1.1 million euros.
The second area is the proposal to convert Frontex into an EU agency with direct control over the EU’s external borders. Frontex could in an emergency have the power to take over border control from national governments. That amounts to a big cession of sovereignty. Do we want this for Malta? asked the Maltese MEP.
Dr. Sant said that at the level of the European Parliament, there are many views about how these two issues should be tackled. He promised that the Maltese Labour delegation will continue to support the Malta government’s stand in this complex and difficult issue.
Dr. Sant said that the Maltese people need to take a direct interest in the European refugee crisis as it could influence their future in a big way. It is true that Malta seems to have been cocooned from the latest disruptions caused by refugees and immigrants coming over to Europe in their thousands from the Middle East. But it is an illusion to think that Malta can just ignore what is going on. The situation will remain problematic for as long as the civil war in Syria is not stopped and Libya remains a dangerously unstable country.

Maltese Version – MALTA SE TOĦROĠ €1.1 MILJUN MIT-€3 BILJUN LI L-UE SE TAGĦTI LIT-TURKIJA

Hemm il-periklu li ż-Żona Xengen, li tippermetti lill-Ewropej isiefru mingħajr kontrolli lejn ħafna nħawi fl-Ewropa tal-Punent, tista’ tikkollassa fix-xahrejn li ġejjin. Dan ma jkunx fl-interess ta’ Malta. Il-problema fundamentali hija li minkejja li l-uniku mod biex tkun ikkontrollata l-kriżi tal-immigrazzjoni hija permezz ta’ soluzzjoni f’livell Ewropew, ma hemmx ftehim reali bejn l-istati membri tal-UE fuq din il-kwistjoni. L-istati membri mhux jimxu fuq il-wegħdi tagħhom u mhux jafdaw lil xulxin. Dan qalu Alfred Sant meta tkellem dwar il-kriżi tal-immigrazzjoni fil-laqgħa ġenerali taċ-Ċentru Laburista ta’ B’Kara.
Dr. Sant qal li hemm żewġ oqsma fejn Malta teħtieġ li tagħti aktar attenzjoni fil-kriżi tal-immigrazzjoni. L-ewwel qasam huwa l-ftehim mat-Turkija fejn permezz tiegħu l-UE qed tipprova tikkonvinċi lil dan il-pajjiż biex iżomm ir-refuġjati Sirjani fuq it-territorju tiegħu. L-UE wiegħdet lit-Turkija s-somma ta’ 3 biljun ewro bħala kumpens. Biljun ewro se jiġu mill-baġit Ewropew, l-istati membri se joħorġu iż-2 biljun li jifdal. Is-sehem ta’ Malta sa issa se jkun 1.1 miljun ewro.
It-tieni qasam huwa l-proposta li l-Frontex tinbidel f’aġenzija Ewropea b’kontroll dirett fuq il-fruntieri esterni tal-UE. B’hekk il-Frontex f’emerġenza jkollu l-poter li jieħu l-kontroll tal-fruntiera minn id il-gvernijiet nazzjonali. Din tfisser telf mis-sovranita` għal pajjiżna. Irriduha din għal Malta? staqsa Dr. Sant.
Fil-livell ta’ Parlament Ewropew, hemm ħafna ideat dwar kif għandhom ikunu trattati dawn iż-żewġ oqsma. Id-delegazzjoni Maltija Laburista se tkompli tappoġġja l-pożizzjoni tal-Gvern Malti f’dawn il-kwistjonijiet tant diffikultużi u kumplessi, saħaq Dr. Sant.
Dr Sant qal li l-poplu Malti għandu jieħu interess dirett fil-kriżi Ewropea tal-immigrazzjoni għax tista’ tinfluwenza l-futur tagħna bi kbir. Huwa minnu li Malta tidher protetta mill-aħħar żviluppi kkawżati mir-refuġjati u l-immigranti li ġew lejn l-Ewropa bl-eluf mil-Lvant Nofsani. Imma tkun illużjoni jekk naħsbu li Malta tista’ tinjora dak li qed iseħħ. Is-sitwazzjoni se tibqa’ problematika sakemm il-gwerra ċivili fis-Sirja ma tispiċċax u sakemm il-Libja tibqa’ tbaqbaq bl-instabilita`.