ROME, Latium, July 15, 2013 (AFP)
Malta’s prime minister on Monday called for new European immigration policies, complaining that the arrival of hundreds of asylum-seekers on the island this year was proving “unsustainable”.
“We’ve been left alone. We need a coherent EU policy. Empty talk on solidarity is not enough,” Joseph Muscat said at a briefing in Rome ahead of talks with Italian counterpart Enrico Letta on the issue.
In proportion to its population, Malta takes in more asylum-seekers than any other European nation. In 2012, there were 21.7 applicants for asylum per 1,000 inhabitants.
Under current European rules, asylum-seekers have to remain in the country where they first enter Europe until their application is accepted or refused.
Turning back boat people without processing their refugee status requests is also not permitted.
“If there are not European rules on pushing back or pushing forward, the situation is unsustainable,” Muscat said, in an apparent reference to the potential for asylum-seekers to be moved to other European countries.
Almost all the thousands of migrants who have landed in Italy and Malta this year have come on boats crossing from the Libyan coast but are mostly from other impoverished and war-torn parts of Africa.
Muscat also rejected criticism of his stance saying he was “anti-xenophobic” and in favour of integration of immigrants and a multi-cultural society.
