Veto urged

Malta opposition urges veto of EU immigration pact, by Reuters:

Malta's opposition Labour Party on Sunday urged Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi not to sign an immigration pact backed by EU interior ministers last week, saying it was not in the interests of the island. Under the pact, due to be signed at an EU summit in October, the bloc pledged to boost the fight against illegal migration while promoting legal migration and a common asylum policy.

EU states agreed to cooperate more, as well as with the migrants' countries of origin, and to expel more illegal migrants. The Mediterranean island has reported a 35 percent surge in migrant landings this year and wants its EU partners to shoulder some of the burden. Some 129 migrants -- a group of 101 from Africa and another of 28 -- landed in Malta on Sunday. The larger group was rescued from a drifting boat by an Italian naval vessel, Malta's armed forces said.

Calling on the government to veto the EU pact, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said a burden-sharing mechanism under which EU states had bound themselves take in migrants who landed in Malta was not good enough because it was voluntary. He also said the mechanism would apply only to recognised refugees, which constitute a small proportion of migrants. However, the government rejected the call, saying the pact was beneficial because it included the burden-sharing mechanism.

Malta's prime minister told the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Friday that it had become extremely difficult for Malta to continue to carry such a migrant burden since it was disproportionate to the size of the country and its population. The European Commission estimates there are up to 8 million illegal migrants in the bloc.