Following the agreement reached by the EU Council of Ministers whereby “for those EU member states which are faced with specific and disproportionate pressures on their national asylum systems’ there should be, ‘on a voluntary and co-ordinated basis, better relocation of beneficiaries of international protection from such member states to others,” Alternattiva Demokratika -The Green Party Chairperson, Arnold Cassola, said:
“The agreement reached is a first step in the right direction, but is still not enough. Malta is part and parcel of the common external borders of the EU. It is not a voluntary choice for Malta to be an external border but a permanent feature of gegraphy of Malta and of the whole EU.”
“Alternattiva Demokratika therefore asks all EU countries to contribute and to share the responsiblity which being an EU border country brings with it. The political work should therefore continue so that the better relocation of beneficiaries of international protection from ‘border’ countries like Malta which suffer from disproportionate pressures due to its location to other EU member states should be on a compulsory basis and not on a voluntary one. Responsibility sharing should be on a continuous basis amongst all and not on a voluntary basis amongst some. This is what true solidarity both amongst EU countries and towards fellow human beings means,” concluded Prof. Cassola.