Two other exercises involving the relocation of irregular migrants to other member states have been held in the past days. Two groups of migrants were transferred to Finland and Romania in order to pursue their asylum process in the two respective countries.
The relocations were held in coordination with the European Commission following calls from the Maltese Government for the sharing of responsibility of irregular migrants reaching Malta. Work on such initiatives took place between officials of the Ministry for Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement and their counterparts in the other member states.
More migrants are expected to be relocated to other member states by the end of the year. These initiatives complement measures adopted by the government in the field of migration, mainly to reduce the number of arrivals of irregular migrants. Work is also being carried out by the Ministry for Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement to set up a unit focused on the return of rejected asylum seekers, as announced in Budget 2021.
Preparations on the relocation of migrants also involved the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). The relocation project is co-financed by EU emergency assistance under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).
