Malta’s Prime Minister, Lawrence Gonzi, told the European Union that little Malta has done more than its share of giving refuge to those fleeing Africa.
By the way, haven’t we been told that Egypt is free now and Libya soon will be? So, why are they leaving now?
From the Times of Malta:
Malta has no intention of hosting any of the Eritreans, Somalis and Ethiopians who fled Libya to the borders with Egypt and Tunisia, according to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
“At this stage, I think we are already carrying a much bigger burden than we can handle in terms of refugees and asylum seekers and so we won’t be making any offers,” he said, reacting to the European Commission’s initiative to ask member states to resettle hundreds of the displaced Africans.
“We need the EU to take some of our refugees and not the other way round,” Dr Gonzi said when asked about Malta’s position on the Commission’s initiative.
Good for you, Dr. Gonzi!
And, ho hum, the Jesuits aren’t happy.
For new readers, I’ve been following the situation in Malta with Africans arriving there illegally for several years because I find it troublesome that two US Ambassadors to Malta (one in the Bush Administration and now one in the Obama Administration) have been magically transforming illegal aliens arriving in Malta into legitimate refugees who are then sent to America. The policy turned Malta into a magnet for human smuggling—just get to Malta and get a ticket to the US!
Type ‘Malta’ into our search function and see dozens of posts over the years on the precedent set by these two ambassadors.