Therefore, one would soon realise that, given that Malta has to assist such people, provide housing, feed them, extend to them the use of medical facilities and medicine, process asylum applications and deal with every other aspect according to both to international laws and Maltese hospitality, this is becoming a huge burden for our country to bear.
Analysing the costs incurred by EU member states in this regard, a 200-page report by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee ranks Malta on top as it spends 0.26 of its gross domestic product on migration.
Malta’s share on contributing to migrants was more than 1,000 times larger than Portugal’s though the island’s GDP is 30 times smaller. A country’s economy, population size and density were taken into account when drawing up such data.
To deal with the migration phenomenon, Frontex had been set up to help people in distress in the Mediterranean Sea and transfer to the nearest safe port.