Migration in the Central Mediterranean. Jean Monnet Occasional Papers 02/2013

In the last decade irregular immigration has emerged as a “security” challenge (in the language of International Relations military “threat”) in the Mediterranean region particularly in the central, sub-region1. The designation of this issue as a “security challenge” or “threat” is itself controversial and will be discussed further down. This paper focuses on the situation in the central Mediterranean involving mainly four countries namely Italy, Libya, Malta and Tunisia all of which have long standing historic links and bilateral relations and participate in the so called “5+5” Dialogue in the Western Mediterranean. Two of these Central Mediterranean countries (Italy, Malta) are EU member states and Tunisia has a long standing relationship with the EU [Association Agreement, Barcelona Process (EMP), Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)] while Libya so far has no formal relations at all with the EU. This paper analyses some of the aspects of migration in the central Mediterranean focusing on the link between the domestic and international politics of the issue in Italy and Malta and contrasting the different approaches taken. For example, although Italy and Malta both resort to self-help and both try to involve the EU in helping them tackle the problem, they do this in a markedly different way: Italy uses the EU as a supplement to its independent and bilateral efforts while Malta looks to the EU as the major solution to the problem. Lacking the power and influence to deal with the issue, Malta tends to see the problem as primarily a multilateral issue or one that can only be tackled in concert with stronger powers in the region preferably within an EU context. On the other hand, Italy has been keen in involving the EU but decided to go it alone when this option turned out to be a dead end. In this paper I also try to show the extent (or limitations) to which multilateral initiatives such as the “5+5” and Euro operation really play a decisive role in incentivizing or facilitating inter-state cooperation or joint solutions. This paper also refers to the EU acquis, the notion of solidarity (norms) and the extent to which it is implemented as well as a number of connected issues. The subjects of this paper, the Mediterranean Boat People, have been referred to by various names in the literature, all of which may be more or less deficient in actually defining them all. They have been referred to as “illegal” or “irregular” immigrants, “refugees” in search of international protection, “migrants at sea” and “boat people”. The use of “boat people” dispenses with the need of having to define the various categories of migrants involved and is thus preferred in this paper

Malta and ten years of EU membership : how tenacious was the island?

Since it is difficult to attempt a broad analysis covering all the aspects of what ten years of European Union membership have meant for Malta, this article focuses on a selection of the most salient impacts of membership, preceded by a description of Malta, a characterization of its politics, and an analysis of the traditionally polarized political scene, in which the positions of the two most important Maltese parties on EU and NATO membership are discussed. Topics addressed include the analysis of the changes in the political landscape of Malta as a consequence of the policy changes of the Maltese political parties on EU integration; party shifts on the neutrality issue; Malta’s way of tackling the immigration burden, and some considerations on the economic effects of European Union membership.peer-reviewe

The trust fund for Africa : a preliminary assessment

The EU-Africa Summit on migration and an informal council meeting took place in the Maltese capital Valletta on the 11 and 12 November 2015. The decision to call the meetings was taken by Donald Tusk on 20 April 2015 in response to the worsening migrant tragedies in the central Mediterranean region, a day after a fishing boat full of migrants capsized some 96 kilometres off the Libyan coast leading to the loss of about 800 lives in what became the biggest migrant boat tragedy ever. The need to strengthen cooperation with third countries was paramount. The EU-Africa Summit was attended by EU and African leaders, the Presidents of the European Council, the Commission and the European Parliament as well as high officials from the United Nations and some of its agencies, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the Arab League and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. The EU “Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa” (hereafter, “The Emergency Trust Fund for Africa” [EUTF]) was set up during the summit. A fortnight later a Commonwealth heads of state and government also met in Valletta between the 27 and 29 November and migration again featured prominently.peer-reviewe

Malta’s 2008 election : a vote for continuity and change

The 2008 Malta election confirmed the Nationalist Party in power for a third consecutive term, but with a much reduced majority. It also instigated a change of leadership in the opposition Malta Labour Party and the subsequent election of a new leader from amongst the ranks of its MEPs. Unlike national elections in most other EU member states, EU membership featured very strongly in this election but in a peculiarly different way than it did in previous ones. Voter participation at 92.5% was below the 2003 rate of 95.96% and 1.32% less than the 1966-2008 average.peer-reviewe

The Mediterranean island states : Malta and Cyprus

The 2004 European Union enlargement also included the Mediterranean island-states of Cyprus and Malta, two former British colonies and members of the British Commonwealth. The islands share a number of similarities but they are also dissimilar in uniquely distinct ways. The membership applications of both states initially presented the EU with a number of political difficulties. With respect to Cyprus, many member states would have preferred to see the island join the Union after the ‘Cyprus Problem’ had been settled. As for Malta, the island showed a very high degree of Euroskepticism. It froze its application in 1996 but reactivated it in 1998. Apart from this skepticism the island’s neutral status, enshrined in the Constitution could present insurmountable problems.peer-reviewe

Small states and the internal balance of the European Union : the perspective of small states

A satisfactory definition of a small state has not been found. Attempts to use quantitative criteria such as population and territorial size, gross domestic product and GDP per capita have not resolved the task successfully. They rather fuelled more controversy. However, despite these theoretical drawbacks, there is no denying that the EU has become, and will increasingly become with successive enlargements, a Community of small states. This is illustrated by the information in the appendix to this chapter, (Table 3), which shows that in the present EU of fifteen Member States, only five countries have a population of more than 40 million. The rest of the Member States, except the Netherlands, have a population of around 10 million or less. The EU presently has 13 membership applications before it, including that of Turkey which is being kept in abeyance. This means that in the future, when the EU grows eventually to 28 countries, as many as 19 Member States will have a population of around 10 million or less of which 11 will have around 5 million or less.peer-reviewe