Simon Busuttil (PPE) . – (MT) Thank you Madam President. I think that, as Mr Triantaphyllides stated, Greece is a country that is symptomatic of all of Europe with regard to the issue of immigration. We have to admit that Greece, like other countries in Southern Europe, is a transit country, not a destination country. This is an important point, and I will repeat it: Greece is a transit country and immigrants who arrive in Greece do not usually want to remain in Greece, but plan to cross over to other countries of the European Union, usually those in the North of the European Union.

This means that the external borders of Greece, as well as the number of immigrants arriving in Greece are not Greece's problem, but the problem of all of the European Union. There are other countries that are in the same situation as Greece: Malta, my home country, is one of them, as is the island of Lampedusa – if anyone here thinks that the sixty thousand people who landed in Lampedusa last year wanted to remain in Lampedusa, it is definitely a mistaken impression.

We therefore have to find concrete ways of solving this collective European problem by giving it a collective European solution. I believe that the Council’s proposals regarding the revision of the Dublin Regulation are not enough, and that we are still far from reaching an agreement. I also believe that the Council’s conclusions regarding solidarity are also inadequate, although they are a step in the right direction. Until everyone understands that this truly is a European problem we definitely are not going to find a solution.