Malta’s Government in the Legislative Decision-Making Process of the Extension of an EU Directive on Long-Term Residence to Beneficiaries of International Protection: Case Study 3

Abstract

EU legal migration, irregular migration, and asylum policy fall within the ambit of the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) policy domain. These three ‘sub-policy’ spheres together with their respective legal framework, particularly that of legal migration, form the focus of this chapter. However, one must bear in mind that the EU’s JHA policy sphere also includes other sub-spheres (notably those on border controls, visas, civil co-operation, criminal law, policing, and security) which this chapter does not delve into given that they have been the focus of work by other authors producing research on this very challenging and complex topic (for instance, see Peers 2011; Geddes 2000; Boswell 2003; amongst others). Rather, the chapter builds on such work and focuses on a particular aspect of the EU’s immigration policy, that of long-term residency for legal migrants in the EU. More specifically, this chapter examines the EU legislative negotiations on amending Council Directive 2003/109/EC (of 25 November 2003known as the ‘Long-Term Residents’ (LTR) directive) and the Maltese government’s behaviour in these negotiations leading to the adoption of Directive 2011/51/EU. As stated in subsequent sections, the rationale behind the amendment directive is to extend long-term residency to third-country nationals (TCNs) who are beneficiaries of international protection. Therefore, in a similar manner as found in Chap. 7, this Chapter examines whether Malta’s government was successful in exercising influence during this particular EU legislative decision-making process. Section 8.2 places EU migration and asylum policy in context. It provides a brief overview of the development of the EU’s legal framework for legal migration bringing it up to date with the current post-Treaty of Lisbon era. It also sets out a clear compartmentalization of the existing EU legal framework for the interlinked sub-policy spheres of asylum and legal and irregular migration. Akin with the rest of the chapter, this section focuses on the EU’s rules and legal framework on the granting of residence permits to TCNs as defined by Article 79 TFEU, particularly point 2(a) of this Treaty article. Section 8.3 presents Malta’s national position (that is, the government’s objectives) adopted in these negotiations on amending the 2003 LTR directive. This section highlights the salience presented by EU legal migration law, particularly EU legislation on long-term residence, for the Maltese government and its interests in this policy sphere. As shall be observed there, the issue of granting long-term residence permits was (and still is) a very sensitive issue for those EU member states (and their governments) geographically placed on the EU’s external border. It emphasizes how EU states such as Malta are negatively affected by large numbers of irregular migrants (commonly referred to as ‘boat people’) arriving on their shores (and by consequence, the ‘EU border’) seeking refugee status and/or international protection (also referred to as ‘subsidiary’ protection). This situation has a direct impact on the issue of long-term residency in the EU. Section 8.4 moves the discussion forward and in a similar vein as that found in Chap. 7 describes and explains the Maltese government’s capacities and strategies employed during the legislative negotiations in the Council and the EP in this case. Finally, Sect. 8.5 concludes this chapter by providing a brief overall assessment of Malta’s performance throughout these negotiations to determine whether the outcome for Malta was positive. It must be emphasized that this chapter deals solely with the EU legislative negotiations occurring between 2007 and 2011 to amend the 2003 LTR Council directive. In other words, it does not cover the process adopting the initial directive of 2003. The main reason for this is that at the time, Malta was not yet an EU member state and could not participate in those legislative negotiations. Therefore, since the book is about Malta’s behaviour in EU legislative decision-making processes, it did not make much sense to examine the earlier negotiations. Unlike the case studies presented in the previous chapter, this chapter deals solely with one set of negotiations, albeit occurring in two distinct phases separated by the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009 (this last point is illustrated in Fig. 8.1 on key dates in the negotiations).