Frontex, the EU border control agency, has
agreed to strengthen its capacity for the repatriation of migrants and
may lease an aircraft for the purpose, director-general Ilka Latenen
said today.
[timesofmalta.com] Speaking after talks with Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm
Mifsud Bonnici, Mr Latenen said Frontex would consider leasing an
aircraft for repatriation flights to start from Malta.
At present most repatriations from Malta are made through
arrangements with other countries, with aircraft stopping over in Malta
on their way to the migrants‘ countries whenever they have empty seats.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry said that Frontex will
also be helping Malta to obtain the travel documents needed to make
repatriations possible, a role currently undertaken by the police. No
migrants may be repatriated without such documentation.
Only half of the migrants who arrive in Malta are found to be
eligible for humanitarian protection and the rest, therefore, have to
be repatriated.
