Malta says sorry on Lithuania’s refusal to accept refugees
Posted by editor on 10/29/09 • Categorized as Foreign Policy • 
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Lithuania has decided against taking part in a European Commission’s Malta Resettlement Programme in accepting to resettle some of the African refugees now kept in Malta. Malta’s Justice and Interior Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici expressed his opinion on this decision and accepts Lithuania’s decision.
However, he added that Malta would’ve preferred Lithuanian to take a different stance on the issue. ‘We accept this, because this is a decision taken by a free country. The setting up of this pilot project is based on a voluntary system, where a country can decide to participate and not to participate. We understand that Lithuania has difficulties. Obviously, we would have preferred a different decision, but we accept what the Lithuanian people have decided,’ Bonnici told BNS on 29 October evening after meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart Raimnudas Palaitis.
Last week the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee commented on the decision not to take in the refugees ‘Lithuania’s complicated situation with the state budget, social tension in the country and a high level of unemployment are impeding factors when it comes to partaking in the pilot resettlement bid.’
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