With the European Union having failed to muster its humanitarian mettle this summer, despite all the writing that was on the wall, to come up with a bloc-wide solution to migration phenomenon, this has been a summer of management by crisis, ad hoc solutions to migrant arrivals.
Malta has been at the forefront this summer of attempts to strike some sort of European Union solidarity through its piecemeal, ad hoc arrangements between the few willing EU countries willing to pitch in - of which, sadly, there has only been a handful.
Malta, as has been the case with the Lifeline and the Aquarius migrants, deserves commendation for its diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, and for having tempered its obstinacy to see it make, as the government put it earlier this summer, a 'concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so'.
But Malta has also managed to raise the ire of many humanitarians as migrant vessels, including an NGO rescue aircraft, remain stranded in Malta with the government having denied all migrant rescue NGOs any quarter, and they are banned from both entering and exiting Maltese ports.
It is understandable that Malta is somewhat reticent about opening up the proverbial floodgates, the move, however, is fast earning Malta a somewhat sinister reputation amongst those with a more humanitarian streak. But where diplomacy may not have been employed to its full with such strong arm tactics, the diplomacy negotiated by the Muscat government to effect burden sharing when no such empathy existed before must have been no mean feat.
The current deal for the migrants disembarked yesterday is yet another ad hoc agreement, which is not to be underestimated and, in fact, is to be encouraged given the bloc's less than enviable track record along such lines
But the only problem here is that the migration situation is far from an ad hoc situation, it is a permanent, recurring situation constant that needs to be addressed with permanent 'responsibility-sharing' measures on an EU-wide level because it must be understood that the migrants we are speaking of are not headed for Malta, Italy or Spain in particular – they are headed for the wider European Union where they believe they will be given refuge.
Given the encouraging yet far from satisfactory willingness to help from the majority of EU members states, there is clearly still a lot of convincing to do if we are to convert that these ad hoc agreements struck by Prime Minister Muscat are to be converted into the kind of permanent burden-sharing structure that Europe so desperately needs.
That solution must at all costs at least include a functioning, Europe-wide asylum system with proper support for frontline states such as Malta, and the creation of shared responsibilities.
Anything short of that and the Aquarius and Lifeline sagas are only destined to repeat themselves over and over again next summer and for many summers to come, which could be spent squabbling about who is to take care of the world's most destitute, downtrodden and needy seeking safe havens.
This is a prospect that Malta, and indeed Europe, can ill-afford.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2QimZ83
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