Malta risks being sent to bed without supper
Picked up by the cameras as ignored or overlooked in the EU Council playground, Malta’s prime minister then emerges with big, loud talk of how he is holding everyone hostage and has given them until December to meet his demands on migration, following which he will begin using Malta’s veto in the EU on completely unrelated matters.
The newspapers in Malta then report all this as though it is somehow real and valid, without examining the context or giving their readers the whole picture, a picture some of them apparently cannot acquire for themselves by reading the international press.
And so I had a message from a committed ‘Joseph’ fan the other day, telling me with chest-bursting pride and delight that now Malta has an “iljun go Brussel” to fight for our “rights”.
There’s pretty much the same on the internet comments-boards: the ‘fortizza ta’ Malta’ elves are out in force.
But then read the EU Observer this morning and you get the real picture, with Angela Merkel putting Malta, Italy and now Bulgaria in their place, ticking them all off roundly and soundly, and more or less suggesting that if they carry on playing up and throwing tantrums, they will be sent to bed without supper (it takes a woman…).
The link is below.
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http://euobserver.com/justice/121910
Even their buddies think so
http://english.cntv.cn/program/newsupdate/20131026/101806.shtml
To be fair, this does prove Joseph right when he said that all the fuss and outpouring of sorrow we heard after the Lampedusa tragedy was just empty words.
Germany has managed to dominate Europe economically and draw away a whole generation of minds and talent from countries like Spain and Italy. The Germans have brought whole countries under their control. Angela Merkel’s austerity drive has now shown to have worsened the situation and driven countries where it was imposed into further ruin, instead of helping. Germany has conquered the rest of Europe in a way they were not able to 70 years ago. Why would they want any African or or Middle Eastern immigration when they have us?
[Daphne – When people begin with ‘to be fair’, I always know that what follows is going to be annoyingly idiotic.]
It’s no wonder you didn’t get my point if you prejudged what I was doing before you read it.
[Daphne – I didn’t. I read right through until the end. Then I eliminated the ‘to be fair’, read it again, and still through it annoyingly idiotic. That is actually the kind of remark which, when made in conversation, has me leave the the group/room so as to avoid having to be a party to the discussion, as I know bad things will follow. This is a free country. Your freedom to spout inanities is mirrored in other people’s freedom to describe them as such and even to avoid them.]
Issa norganizzaw ‘naqa’ bitching dwar Angela Merkel.
Nattakkawha fuq il-Fejsbukk, nghamlulha bhal ma ghamilna lil dik, hemm, Malmstrom.
Imbaghad nghidulha biex lill-immigranti tehodhom hi, jekk trid, il-Germanja.
L-aqwa li ahna mmorru Florida nbighu il-passaporti Made in Malta.
To be honest one has to assess the magnitude of the refugee problem as it affects different countries one must not speak of absolute numbers of refugees but the ratio of that number to the population and to the area. A thousand refugees in Malta would be a much bigger problem than a thousand refugees in Germany.
Following your argument:
a. irregular immigrants in Germany (reported as a conservative estimate excluding official refugees): 1,000,000; population: 80,000,000;
b. irregular immigrants AND refugees in Malta: 5000; population 400,000.
Ratio in both cases 1 in 80; ergo Merkel should be complaining on the same level of hysteria as our Hamburger Joe.
Many more thousand reach Germany than Malta. The mode of entry is less dramatic, so you won’t hear about it and you won’t ever see Merkel throwing tantrums whenever she sees a TV camera or microphone, telling YouRip to wake up and smell the coffee.
It is pretty obvious that Mutti Angela has smelt Joey’s coffee and is not particularly impressed by the aroma.
He will have to try some other odour next time.
You are always frayed by your own oil…. Merkel is for stopping boats leaving Libya, if you read the whole article.
It takes a woman indeed, a German woman to realize the unsustainability of it all.
As if we need EU supper. We are almost net contributors. They will not give supper, better. We don’t give them our money.
Get a reality check. You are a bit cut off from logical reality.
[Daphne – I usually delete your rubbish, Floater, but I really must upload this one. ‘Frayed by your own oil’ – wonderful. A literal translation of the Maltese expression ‘tinqela f’zejtek’, which absolutely does NOT exist in English. Cloth gets frayed, Floater; you are FRIED IN oil.]
Money, money, money. Net contributors and EU funds. Ejja ha nqahhbu t-tifla u l-mara u l-kunjata u ka-ching!
So EU membership was always about money and nothing else, was it?
I can’t say I’m surprised. Even the pro-membership Nationalist Party built its message on the “x’se nerdghu mill-Ewropa” theme. When we did join, it was always about the millions we managed to get from “the EU”.
Not only that. Self-assured and self-confident Dr. Busuttil, back in 2001, used to tell people on Xarabank that burden sharing will only be a matter of time once we join the EU. ‘They had to’, he used to argue, in line with the principle of solidarity. He was absolutely mistaken.
And he was was right. The EU is sharing the burden. Who d’you think paid for all the shiny new kit used by the AFM on their “dangerous” S&R missions? China? Libya? It was the EU.
But I see you still see everything in terms of “us” and “the EU” so I’m just talking past you here.
WE are the EU. The EU is not about money.
And by the way, when you’re faced with a congenitally pig-ignorant electorate which still believes the earth is flat and gunpowder is the work of the Devil, and you’re trying to save Malta from the abyss of international isolation, then you lie if you must. In this case, it is the lesser evil and morally justified.
Daphne, please next time spare us from such illiterates
When one reads comments like these, the reason for the MLP’s majority becomes clear, switchers and all.
Thanks, for the correction.
and your user name does not mean floating voter btw.
Yes an ‘iljun’ from the yellow brick road.
The tin man was the one who lacked a heart.
One thing that the pro-Labour media fail to deliver to their listeners and readers is the stark truth that Malta is not Muscat and Muscat is not Malta; he is a mere “servant” of the state. The PL never made any distinction between Malta as a nation and who runs the country. As prime minister, Muscat does not represent the PL but the country.
You missed (better still you ignored) my reference to comparative geographical areas.
That applies also to La Redoute.
I told you we needed a woman at the helm here too. Muscat cannot relate to women and only women can put him in his place as they rattle him.
The larger European countries like France, Germany and Italy take the lion’s share of the asylum seekers together with the US and Canada, but Sweden takes in a very large number of asylum seekers and is very rarely mentioned.
Another surprise for me was that Spain has one of the lowest number of asylum seekers, despite having part of its border exposed to North Africa. I urge people to read the UNHCR Report at http://unhcr.org.au/unhcr/files/2012_Asylum_Trends.pdf which covers 2008-12.
The numbers for Germany are truly impressive. In the 5 years covered by this report the Germans have taken in over 200,000 asylum seekers.
Malta’s 9000 seem a few, but when one looks at the number of asylum seekers per 1000 inhabitants, Malta ranks as the country with the most asylum seekers in the world at 21.7. Compare this to Germany’s 2.4 and suddenly Germany’s numbers seem a few.
I don’t like tantrums and foot-stamping, but larger countries should be howing at least some sympathy towards our situation. I think that unfortunately Malta is slightly ignored and seen as irrelevant and most probably Merkel’s message is more for the Italians and the Greeks than for us.
I say this because when you look at the numbers you will find that Italy and Greece together take in fewer asylum seekers than Germany. Also whilst Lampedusa looks like an island with similar (if not worse) problems than us, they have the benefit of being able to send all their asylum seekers to the mainland with the obvious advantages for the island.
I think that on this issue there needs to be more seriousness, more dialogue and more efforts towards finding a solution to a problem which will remain with us so long as there are countries which are poorer than us and which have more problems than us. In a way the asylum seekers are result of the EU’s success story.
Whilst we could be “sent to bed without supper” because of the PM’s showing of and stamping of feet we definitely do not deserve to be sent off to bed without supper for having taken on the largest number of asylum seekers in the world.
For this, I think we as Maltese should feel proud, and the rest of the world should admire us. For those with Christian values we should feel doubly proud and must remember that this is our mission in life – to help those in need.
[Daphne – Proud, Claude? Malta takes them in because it has no choice under the law. Christian charity and pride, mission in life and so on, have absolutely nothing to do with it. Should the legal obligation be somehow rescinded, you can bet that we won’t be rescuing a single one.]
It is not the number of asylum seekers, but the actual number of irregular immigrants and refugees that are resident in the country of interest. In the case of Germany, this is over one million while Malta has around 5000 and not 9000 (official NSO figures).
Snoopy, I was quoting the UNHCR report for the last 5 years up to 2012. I also posted link.
I agree with you but it should not be that way.
I said we “should be” (not “are”) proud to be the country taking in the most asylum seekers per capita and not only see the negative side of things (you see even our positive government can be negative). We seem to forget the reason why our army is sent to rescue these people. The reason is not only because we have a legal obligation but also because that legal obligation derives from a moral obligation towards the value of life and the value of each and every human life whoever that is.
I am also quite sure that whilst the majority are all out for push backs there are still many thousands of us who have a heart and want to help. Of course it is not easy but lets face it, this is a small price to pay for the good life we enjoy in this country and as members of the EU so we should stop moaning and get on with it.