MALTA PROPOSES TO HOST EU ASYLUM AGENCY

C O N F I D E N T I A L VALLETTA 000113


E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF MT
SUBJECT: MALTA PROPOSES TO HOST EU ASYLUM AGENCY

Classified By: PolOff MCummings for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Malta has formally offered to host the European
Union,s Asylum Agency, which will be established within the
next year to coordinate the EU asylum policy, increase
cooperation between member states, lend assistance to states
facing the greatest pressure and harmonize national
practices. Malta,s Minister for Justice and Home Affairs
(MJHA),Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, proposed that the agency be
based in Malta at a meeting of the EU Justice and Home
Affairs Council in Brussels on February 26. Mifsud Bonnici
indicated that Malta &could be a good place to host the new
structure as it will also give more visibility to our
migration problems... it will also provide more immediate
help.8


2. (SBU) Mario Caruana, MJHA Director for Operations, told
PolOff on February 27 that Malta had offered to host the
Asylum Agency in order to focus EU attention on the
significant pressure that Malta faces with the asylum
seekers. Malta would not run the agency, but Caruana pointed
out that by hosting it, Malta would greatly benefit; and that
wherever the Agency ended up being located, Malta would
benefit from the harmonization of border and asylum
obligations. One core objective of the Agency would be to
send specialized teams of experts to member states affected
by extraordinary pressure of receiving asylum seekers. These
teams will assist the national authorities in the
identification, translation, interpretation, accommodation
and repatriation issues related to asylum seekers. As Malta
is on the front lines, receiving thousands of asylum seekers
each year, Caruana opined, the country was clearly a good fit
to host the agency.


3. (SBU) The PM's chief of staff told Charge' last week that
Malta was the first, and so far the only country to formally
offer to host the Agency, and that Italy was officially
backing Malta's bid. Press reports indicate that Cyprus and
Greece have also shown interest in hosting the agency and
that those countries believe that wherever the Angency ends
up, it should be based in the Mediterranean.

Comment
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4. (C) With the arrival of over six hundred new immigrants,
on three overloaded ships, in January and February (normally
the off-season),the immigration issue has quickly risen to
the top of the public agenda in Malta -- supplanting even the
financial crisis as a cause for worry and agitated debate.
Whether it is successful or not, the bid to host the EU
Asylum Agency gave the government a rare chance to be seen as
being proactive in addressing a problem that has no easy
solutions.


DAVIS