Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 3 April 2006 - Strasbourg

9. The refugee camps in Malta (debate)

  President. The next item is the Commission Statement on the situation of the refugee camps in Malta.

  Andris Piebalgs, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, the problems faced by Malta affect the European Union as a whole and call for a global approach to the management of migration and asylum. The external borders of the European Union are under permanent pressure from irregular migratory flows, and many people who undertake such journeys require protection.

In December the European Council identified a series of measures that would boost the EU’s external policies on migration and asylum. The Commission is actively seeking to find structural answers to the pressure of heavy migration on the European Union and its partner countries. In that respect, the EU-Africa Ministerial Conference held on 10 and 11 July in Rabat, reinforced cooperation with the African Union and dialogue with the main countries of origin have been important new political initiatives designed to discuss migration issues in detail and, at the same time, to find durable joint solutions.

The Commission is aware of the particular situation in Malta and is taking the following action to improve the situation. The most immediate assistance available to Malta at EU level is through the appropriate EU financial programmes. The European Refugee Fund already provides financial support for Member States in bearing the consequences of receiving refugees and displaced persons.

Support for the development of adequate reception conditions for asylum seekers is a priority of the European Refugee Fund, and Malta benefits from the Fund’s assistance in that area. The European Refugee Fund allocated to Malta EUR 114 000 in 2004, EUR 500 000 in 2005 and EUR 600 000 in 2006. In addition, the Commission most recently agreed to provide financing of EUR 120 000 for a project to improve reception conditions on Malta as part of the ARGO Programme.

In order to address specific situations, such as those faced by Malta in recent months, amendments will also be proposed to the European Refugee Fund to enable Member States to access funds more quickly, and with the minimum administrative burden, to deal with the consequences of sudden arrivals of large numbers of people who may be in need of international protection. Specifically, the amendments will aim to support emergency measures to grant appropriate reception conditions for asylum seekers, including basic needs and fair and effective asylum procedures.

The Commission will also shortly be making a proposal for a Council decision to ensure practical cooperation between Member States, as set out in the Communication on Strengthening Practical Cooperation adopted on 17 February. That proposal will initiate the setting-up of expert teams to assist Member States in situations such as those Malta is facing with reception conditions and asylum processing.

The directive on reception conditions, now applicable, sets a minimum standard for the accommodation of asylum seekers, including those held in detention or with restrictions on their freedom of movement. The Commission is monitoring implementation of the directive and particular attention will be paid to how Malta is applying it, also in the light of the reports from honourable Members of this House following last week’s visit. A report on the application of the directive and possible improvements will be presented to the European Parliament in the autumn.

  Stefano Zappalà, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last week a delegation from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs went to Malta, just as in the past it had gone to Paris, Ceuta and Melilla and Lampedusa.

We all need to be aware of and sensitive to this issue. Rumours are one thing and facts are another. The immigration situation in Europe is certainly not pleasant, appealing or suitable. It is not suitable for the year 2006, for the European Union and its principles, for the Treaties or for the political responsibilities that we, as the European Parliament, have towards the peoples of Europe.

The Commission is skirting around the issue: first I heard talk of initiatives worth EUR 25 000 or EUR 120 000. Commissioner, I should like to inform you that Malta, on the contrary, spends an annual sum of EUR 1 million on this problem. Since 2002, or from its pre-accession phase until now, that country has recorded an increase in the immigration rate and now finds itself with as many as 2 000 more people than it knows what to do with. The 2 000 people in Malta could be the equivalent of 400 000 people held in the national prisons of Germany, or even 300 000 people in the national prisons in Italy, France and the United Kingdom. In order to keep a check on the immigrants, Malta employs 10% of its police force, which would amount to employing 30 000 people if it were Italy or 40 000 people if it were Germany; in other words, all of the law enforcement personnel put together. That is not possible.

Commissioner – although here I address the Council most of all – we have a precise duty: we cannot abandon our Member States and, above all, we cannot abandon Malta in the middle of the sea because, in actual fact, that country is Europe’s most southerly border. It is the border of Europe. From that perspective, Malta cannot be regarded as an autonomous State.

The European Union needs to take all appropriate measures in that regard. Commissioner, I call on you to convene an internal affairs council in Malta as soon as possible, before the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

At present, Malta is enduring some extremely serious situations: it has 2 000 people that it does not know where to send and that can only be sent to Gozo, and taking that course of action would mean making an already extremely serious situation even worse. We are making the people of Malta regret what they have done, even though they do not want to, since Malta is a resolutely pro-European country. Xenophobia is starting to emerge in Malta, and that is a very serious state of affairs.

As Parliament, we have a duty to accept political responsibility. I urge the Council to move quickly and to revise the Dublin Convention. Malta must be a transit country. People today do not want to go to Malta in order to remain there; people pass through and stop in Malta merely to take refuge. I call on you all to support Malta.

As chance would have it, the President of Malta will be here the day after tomorrow, and I am very pleased about that. I hope that this Parliament gives all due support to this great, ancient and noble nation that is suffering because of mistakes that we have made.

  Martine Roure, on behalf of the PSE Group. – (FR) Mr President, during the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs’ visits to the detention centres, a large number of very serious problems were in fact observed. However, what we saw in Malta was terrible. The conditions of detention are inhuman and degrading. Asylum seekers are held in cages without any opportunity to get out, and their most basic rights are overlooked. They do not have access to any legal or medical help. We met people who had been held sometimes for 18, 19 and even 20 months, without any contact with the outside world and in unbearable sanitary conditions.

Admittedly, we can take heart from the fact that the Maltese authorities have hidden nothing from us. This is a mark of respect towards the European Parliament and towards the Union itself. However, these conditions of detention still constitute a violation of human rights and of the European directive on the reception of refugees.

We therefore resolutely call on the Maltese Government to put an end as quickly as possible to its system of systematically detaining migrants. Asylum seekers are not criminals. They often come from hellish situations and they need to be treated with dignity. That being said, we must recognise that Malta is a very small country and that, due to its geographical location, the island is subject to particularly strong pressure. It is therefore the European Union’s duty to display a united front and to share the financial cost of managing Malta’s borders by doing what you said, Commissioner, and specifically calling on – as you said, Commissioner – existing programmes, such as ARGO and the Refugee Fund. A more comprehensive reform is necessary, however, because this is not just an issue of money.

That is why I am calling on the Commission to revise the Dublin II Regulation as quickly as possible and to draft proposals designed substantially to amend it. Ought we not to challenge the very principle behind it, namely that the Member State responsible for processing an asylum application is the first country in which the asylum seeker sets foot? This principle does in fact put an intolerable burden on countries located in the South and East of the Union and has the pernicious effect of jeopardising the access to asylum and undermining reception conditions.

Migrations are well and truly a phenomenon of the contemporary world. We will not shirk the responsibilities incumbent on us as wealthy nations when it comes to receiving victims of oppression or fighting against poverty, which – lest we forget – represents the fundamental cause of migrations.

  Jean Lambert, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, I would like to add my voice to that of Mrs Roure, who has painted an extremely vivid picture of the situation that Parliament’s delegation found in Malta. I would also like to add my voice and that of my group to what we have heard from Mr Zappalà and Mrs Roure about its implications, not just in Malta but in various other places our delegation has visited, including Dublin. What seemed like an extremely logical system at the time to the majority of Parliament – not to all of us – has real problems that need addressing.

We have heard that a number of these problems are due partly to a lack of resources and a lack of expertise. The Commission has said that in the framework of the continuation of the asylum policy one of its aims would be to ensure that all Member States were operating to the highest possible standards and best practice. So I am pleased to hear about the expert teams, but the Commission should not underestimate how many of them will be needed in many parts of the Union. I assume that they will be working together with agencies such as UNHCR and others that have such expertise. That in itself has budgetary implications in terms of the money that the European Union gives UNHCR. We are already a large donor to UNHCR and if we are going to ask more of it, we will need to take that into account.

I also have a question to the Commission about the timescale in relation to Malta: how fast does it think expert teams can get in there? Furthermore, what other resources will be needed to help the Maltese in the long term to treat people with the dignity they deserve?

  Giusto Catania, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group. – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should also like to thank my colleagues from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs for having nominated me and asked me to be the rapporteur for this visit that we carried out in Malta.

As rapporteur, I can only maintain that the situation in the immigrant detention centres in Malta is simply terrifying: it is a real Dantesque hell in which the immigrants are denied even their most basic rights. We visited three detention centres in which we discovered downright inhuman and degrading conditions, unworthy of a civilised country: unacceptable hygiene conditions, promiscuity, pregnant women detained until the fourth month of gestation, terrible food and cold water showers, toilets without doors and rubbish and squalor all around.

Maltese law is abominable: it allows for 18 months of administrative detention for citizens who have committed no crime whatsoever. I believe that that is truly excessive. Furthermore, I believe that the treatment reserved for asylum seekers runs counter to the Geneva Convention and to the European directives on asylum. The migrants do not receive any information, and their asylum applications are not analysed until eight or nine months have elapsed. In Malta, even refugees from war zones, in particular Darfur, are being refused asylum. I was struck by the sight of a man who had a card on which was written ‘genocide in Darfur and detention in Malta’.

Europe cannot remain silent over this dreadful situation, and the visits by our committee to the temporary detention centres in Europe lead us to believe that the policy on the reception of migrants needs to be radically changed. First and foremost, we need to widen the legal entry channels, turn the matter into a Community one and amend the Dublin II agreements and, lastly, close all the administrative detention centres located on European soil. They are legally unacceptable places in which all human rights are being violated.

  Simon Busuttil (PPE-DE). – (MT) What the Member who spoke before me, Mr Catania, omitted to say was that the complaint expressed most loudly and forcefully by the immigrants in the detention centres we visited related not to the conditions in the centres but to the fact that they had never intended coming to Malta. They ended up in Malta against their wishes, and they want to move on to continental Europe. This, moreover, is the tragedy. ‘Allow us to go to other countries in Europe,’ they told us one after the other. I therefore say that it is good that, through this debate and by means of this resolution, this Parliament is showing its solidarity with the immigrants as well as with the people of Malta, the Maltese authorities and the Maltese forces of order, which are doing a very difficult job. It is good that the political groups of this Parliament are showing that they are able to come together to demonstrate this solidarity and to ask both the Commission and the Council to take practical and urgent action. What is this practical and urgent action? Firstly, that Member States should accept persons in Malta requesting asylum. Secondly, that the Dublin II regulation be revised in such a way that the responsibilities of Member States are shared more fairly than they are at present when Malta, and other countries too, carry disproportionate burdens quite beyond their capabilities. Thirdly, that the financial resources of the European Union be used also in urgent cases, as the Commissioner himself rightly said they should be. There should, however, be an emergency clause in each of the four European funds that we shall have in the immigration sector as from next year, and not only in the fund for refugees. Finally, Mr President, I should like to ask the Commission what has become of the initiative, promised last year, of joint patrols in the Mediterranean. Mr President, Parliament is speaking. We shall expect the Council and the Commission to take action. Thank you.

  Louis Grech (PSE). – (MT) Setting aside some initiatives taken recently, I feel that the Union has not tackled the current situation with due urgency, energy and practicality. The resolution we have before us reflects the alarming situation in Malta and other countries in an incisive, clear and objective way. The document rightly states that the centres in which the immigrants are detained should be run in such a way that the immigrants’ dignity and rights are safeguarded. Shortcomings need to be remedied immediately, wherever they are to be found. However the resolution also makes it clear that no single country is able to cope with this problem on its own, let alone a country like Malta, which is shouldering a much greater burden than it can carry. As a matter of fact, the European dimension requires an integrated policy based on the principle of burden sharing, whereby the burden is shared proportionately between all the Member States according to the country’s population and GDP. Equally important is the fact that there should be a revision of Dublin II and, especially, of the system for processing immigrants’ applications. In order to even start resolving this issue, the Union needs, however, to provide funds and not only to make promises. It has to allocate the necessary funds to help small border countries manage this issue. There should also be specific funds allocated to provide for emergencies, particularly when there is an excessive influx of immigrants, notably during the summer. With this initiative, Parliament has shown that it is ready to act. Now it is the Commission’s and the Council’s turn to show that they are ready to put their promises of solidarity into action. Mr President, every action taken by the European Union in order to help immigrants in a way that is fair and in order, too, to provide practical help to small Member States such as Malta does more than a hundred thousand declarations or leaflets to give the European Union more credibility and inspire more confidence in it. Thank you.

IN THE CHAIR: MR TRAKATELLIS
Vice-President

  Hélène Flautre (Verts/ALE). – (FR) Mr President, I believe that the visits undertaken by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs have the great merit of highlighting the fact that the imprisonment of foreigners has become, as it were, the standard way of managing migration issues and that this logic of imprisoning foreigners throughout Europe clearly demonstrates the limits of this development and its entirely unacceptable consequences - particularly in Malta - for the reasons that have already been pointed out in the debate.

Unfortunately, we need to move on from this de facto observation, since it was already made by large international human rights organisation in 2004 and 2005. We are aware of the situation, and I believe that we must now simply acknowledge the absurdity of the Dublin Agreement being applied to Malta. I believe that we must really forge ahead with this reform and, as some of my fellow Members have requested, do so in an in-depth manner. Firstly, people arriving in Malta must be able to submit and formulate their asylum applications in the countries in which they wish to settle. Equally, people who obtain refugee status in Malta must be able to move freely in Europe, whether, I might add, that be in Malta or in any other country in which they first set foot.

I believe that these reforms are entirely necessary if we want to emerge from these situations that are totally catastrophic from the point of view of human rights. Equally, the European Union must be able to establish a lawful policy on migration and stop giving absolute priority to repression and to the closure of borders, with a style of management that we now see to be inhuman and totally lacking in substance. This observation is borne out by the hundreds, indeed thousands, of people who each week drown not only in the Mediterranean Sea, but also in the waters surrounding the Canary Islands, since we know that the flows of migrants have now moved on to Mauritania.

  Kyriacos Triantaphyllides (GUE/NGL). – (EL) Mr President, the Commissioner spoke earlier about reception centres. However, I want to say that what we members of the mission of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs saw in Malta were anything but reception centres.

It is unacceptable and scandalous for Europe, under the shadow of a crisis of anti-terrorist hysteria, to turn itself into a mediaeval fortress and to promote the operation of centres in which immigrants and asylum seekers are kept under detention conditions, contrary to the relevant international conventions. The detention conditions in the closed centres that we visited in Malta are perhaps the worst we have seen so far.

The geographical position of Malta and its lack of financial and administrative resources to cope with waves of immigrants, especially after its accession to the European Union, which has resulted in an increase in the flow of immigrants and refugees, are no reason to justify the situation. The practice of detention is, per se, condemnable. Depriving asylum seekers and immigrants of their freedom is unjustified. The conditions under which they are detained are poor and the lack of transparency in the modus operandi of the centres in question and the practices followed is unacceptable.

  David Casa (PPE-DE). – (MT) The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs having sent a delegation to Malta to see for itself the situation facing illegal immigrants, I today note with satisfaction that Parliament is attaching due importance to the particular situation we have in Malta. Everyone present saw the difficult situation faced by all those who have come to our shores and who are staying in our centres. They also saw, however, the enormous efforts made by the Maltese Government to enable all those who arrive in Malta in an irregular manner to be treated well, despite very limited resources. It is clear that this situation has to change soon. We have all heard that the influx is expected to double this year, and so the problem will continue to get worse. Malta cannot perform miracles on its own. We have been trying for years to attract Europe’s attention to this problem so that the necessary solutions to it might be found. I am speaking not only about financial aid (of which, I must say, we have seen precious little) but about more practical solutions whereby the European Union, of which we are Members, might help us absorb the huge influx of immigrants to our country. We must duly respect the dignity of the detainees, but we can no longer go on stretching our resources and making efforts beyond our means. The situation before us is a critical one, and we have to find solutions whereby we no longer place Malta under undue pressure to take action and do not allow the situation to get out of control. We therefore need now to translate fine words and promises into action. The Commission, the Council of Ministers and Parliament should take action to put into effect, as soon as possible, the solutions already mentioned by the Members who have spoken before me in this debate. The Government and the people of Malta will continue to do their utmost, but we are right to expect everyone to make real and practical efforts because I think that, ultimately, this is not only Malta’s problem, but a problem for all the Member States of the European Union.

  Joseph Muscat (PSE). – (MT) Commissioner, what you have said today has genuinely made me put away the speech I had prepared and address you directly as a representative of the Commission. I do not think you can expect us, the representatives of the Maltese people, to say thank you in this House because you are going to give us money or because you have given us as much money as we collect in one day for charity at Christmas. Your responses do not reflect what is really happening in our country. Secondly, you have evaded the most crucial question of all. We are presenting you with a practical proposal: that Dublin II be revised so that responsibility for processing the applications of people coming to Malta no longer lies with that country but is shared among other countries. What do you think about this proposal? I ask this because, ultimately, it is not just any amount of money that we want (and, I repeat, ‘money’ not peanuts) but money to the tune of millions, substantial enough for providing a proper welcome to these fellow human beings of ours. Apart from money, however, what, in terms of real administrative and long-term help, do you think would solve this problem? That is what we should like to know today.

  John Attard-Montalto (PSE). – (MT) Mr President, I thank you for the opportunity to address Parliament regarding this very important matter. Unfortunately, Malta has been abandoned and left to fend for itself. During these difficult times, which are being faced not only by the inhabitants of our country, the Maltese, but also by those who are in detention, we have felt that we have been swimming against the tide, that we have been left alone and that, in spite of all the fine words of solidarity, Europe has abandoned us. What happened and, indeed, had to happen is that, as we had been requesting for a long time, a delegation came to Malta and saw for itself the awful conditions in which the detainees are being held. These conditions are unfortunate, and nobody is happy with such a situation; but it is a question of resources. Two thousand people entering Malta every year may not sound very many, but these two thousand are equivalent to eight hundred thousand persons entering Germany every year or four hundred thousand entering Italy. Just imagine the influx of refugees into the smallest country and imagine what one of the countries without any resources has to go through. We do, emphatically, need financial aid. We also need solidarity – the solidarity whereby you come to our aid by taking refugees into your own countries in which they can be properly absorbed, as they cannot be in Malta, which is an island of just 300 square kilometres. I would conclude by saying that we consider you as clear proof that solidarity does indeed exist when it comes to acknowledging the needs of a country whose surface area is small compared with the vast expanse of Europe. Thank you.

  Andris Piebalgs, Member of the Commission. Mr President, as I said in my first statement I cannot agree with the statement that Malta has been abandoned. The Commission has so far provided all reasonable support possible and all the programmes that can be used will continue to be used to help Malta solve the problem. But we should also be aware that centres do not solve the problem and it is most important to work with the countries where the migrant flows originate. This is our first challenge because, as long as there are conditions influencing people to move, they will move, and if it is now to Malta, perhaps next time it will be to my country or another country. So that is the main challenge.

The Commission has already promised financial aid. We will provide it quickly. There are also expert teams and the proposal will be ready for 31 May. We will continue to work on joint patrols. As regards the Dublin II package, it takes time even if the Member States agree – it was agreed four years ago. It is very important that Parliament has raised this issue and consideration will be given as to how to address the situation in the best possible way.

The principle of the Member States of reception being first is quite logical, but we know what a problem that has created for Malta. The Commission will continue to work on this issue and provide all possible support at this stage, but it is very important that the Maltese authorities also do their job because I believe that humane conditions and dignity should be considered also from the national authorities’ point of view. We expect each Member State to do its homework in this respect because the Community can provide support and consider how to find the best possible answers. Yet at the same time we expect each Member State to implement the conditions that are laid down in the European directives.

  President. – The debate is closed.

The vote will take place on Thursday at 12 noon.