Brussels, 16/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - Malta wishes to see a strengthening of the political dialogue between the countries of the Arab League and EU Member States by organising a high level meeting, said Maltese foreign minister Michael Frendo. “Malta is interested in a meeting between foreign ministers of the Arab League and the EU,” Mr Frendo told press in Brussels. He has sent a letter to the Finnish Presidency suggesting such a meeting, the aim of which would be to establish “political discussion” on various important issues, including, but not only, the Middle East. He added that this initiative should include all Arab states. Mr Frendo felt that Malta was the best placed country to organise such a meeting since Malta was the only EU country with a language derived from Arabic. His advisers said such a meeting could take place in February 2007.
Mr Frendo said that there would be a “major crisis” if Turkey did not fulfil its commitments, particularly that to provide Cypriot shipping with access to its ports. “I see great difficulty if it doesn't by the December Summit,” he added, but without saying whether he thought this would lead to suspension of negotiations. If Turkey were to meet its commitments, Mr Frendo said the EU would definitely not “go to the extreme”. He also expressed his support for Croatia's candidacy, “the most possible in that period of time”, and pointed out that he felt that it was crucial that countries from South East Europe are able to join the EU. Finally, he said he felt that Europe should “share the burden” of illegal immigration, which, given the size of Malta, was an issue of particular concern. Malta is the world's second most densely populated country, with almost 1,300 inhabitants per km² and a population of 400,000. “The issue of illegal immigration took us by storm,” he said. He also called for a FRONTEX operation to be deployed in 2007. This year, 1,780 people landed in Malta on 56 vessels. Around half will ultimately be granted refugee status or some form of humanitarian protection. Several countries have already agreed to help Malta by accepting refugees. Germany has taken twenty, Ireland, Lithuania and the Netherlands have all also agreed to help, and the minister hoped others would follow. The said the “biggest problem” was identifying the people so that they could be returned to their country of origin. He argued for a European pass, which could not be challenged by the country of origin, which would mean the illegal immigrant's identity could be certified prior to repatriation. In conclusion, Mr Frendo welcomed Libya's decision to hold a conference next week between the EU and the African Union on illegal immigration. He was not confident, however, that the EU would accept Libya's calls for financial compensation for its becoming involved in combating illegal immigration. (bc)