Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, expressed the satisfaction of AD at the approval on Tuesday in the European Parliament by 603 votes in favour, 53 against and 30 abstentions of the report on asylum seekers and the Dublin Convention drawn by Green MEP Jean Lambert.

Through this vote, the European Parliament has called on the Commission to come up with ways to help smaller member states like Malta on the periphery of the EU to cope with the adverse affects of regulations on asylum seekers. The Commission is considering European burden-sharing mechanisms but the Parliament insisted that non-financial mechanisms should be found in the meantime.

Prof. Cassola stated: "It has been a pleasure for AD to work together with Ms Lambert as she was preparing this report. Jean Lambert has come to Malta various times to see for herself the problems that the Maltese population is facing in dealing with the migration issue. We would like to thank her for having highlighted in the report AD and Malta's major preoccupation on this delicate issue, i.e. the concept of responsibility sharing by all 27 countries of the EU and a revision of the Dublin Convention to ensure that Malta does not continue carrying the disproportionate weight it is carrying at the moment in the examination of applications of asylum seekers."

"Once again, Alternattiva Demokratika manifested that through the Greens in the EU Parliament, we are able to move from rhetoric to action," concluded Prof. Cassola.