“More kow-towing to the EU”
ran the big banner heading on KullHadd’s front page on Sunday.
Typically, it focused on the banal
and emphasised that a coming upgrading of the Malta International
Airport is being done to please the EU and would cost Lm10 million.
It then went on to say that government will shortly implement the
Schengen Agreement, as a result of which citizens from non-EU countries
would require a visa to enter Malta.
Such a decision has been in the air for the past months and was even
hinted at. It is typical that it had to be carried in the Labour press
for it to be announced, with a political spin (kow-towing to the EU)
tied to its tail.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Joe Borg confirmed it to Net TV in a short
interview he granted after announcing the state of play of the EU
negotiations. This, however, was not reported in the PN print media.
It is very important at this stage not to allow any xenophobic trends or
ideas to take over. This may be quite difficult due to a latent but very
marked xenophobia present in our country.
Everything considered, however, Malta can only gain through the
introduction of visas, replacing the current free and easy approach to
people coming to Malta.
The idea that you can come to Malta and enter just by showing a simple
identity card is simply not working: it gives the impression that Malta
is a free and easy country where anyone can enter at will, stay as long
as one likes, do whatever one likes to do and only then, if one feels
like it, go back to one’s country.
The idea may have been good when it was introduced – it showed that
Malta does not create any worry at all to our neighbours, as a fraternal
country with wide open arms, where one immediately feels at home.
In practice, it has not worked in that way: by lowering the entry price
it has cheapened Malta, it has contributed to take Malta downstream and
downmarket.
Even if Malta were to decide not to adhere to the EU, this is still a
step we need to take, for our own benefit, not for any EU reason.
Some say this will affect some areas of our tourism industry: we dare to
disagree. If genuine people from these countries want to come to Malta
for their holidays, or to study languages, or for legitimate business,
they will still be able to do it and they will be made welcome.
What we must gradually put an end to is the concentration of mainly
young, mainly male groups of these ID-card foreigners who congregate in
particular areas and who by their very presence have greatly expanded
the xenophobic trait in many Maltese.
At the same time, we must also realise that if Malta is getting a bad
name for itself as the springboard for so many Hope Voyages to nearby
Sicily, this is also because many of these illegal immigrants make it to
Malta due to Malta’s lax entry controls of people with just an
identity card requirement. Bringing in obligatory visas will cut down on
these kinds of people, as bringing in visas for people from eastern
Europe cut down, some years ago, the growing stream of people from those
countries who used to flock to Malta as a springboard to other
countries, especially the US.
Requiring a visa gives a host country the right to choose, whereas the
identity card regime does not really allow that. Requiring a visa also
enables checks to be made, checks at present impossible due to the
simple procedure followed.
Requiring a visa means a serious country with serious procedures,
instead of an open-door country where anyone can enter and wander at
will..
