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Only 50 refugees relocated in Malta

Xinhua, September 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Malta only relocated 50 refugees from Italy and Greece out of the 131 it pledged to take in last year, but is closer to fulfilling its set quota than any other EU country, according to local media reports.

EU figures released on Thursday show Malta has only accepted 50 refugees from the two burdened countries, with the latest nine arriving last week.

"The relocation of asylum seekers to Malta requires the referral of persons by Greece and Italy," Malta's home affairs minister Carmelo Abela said.

"It bears noting that the program is proceeding according to schedule and that it is anticipated that it would be completed by September 2017, as stipulated by the relevant council decisions," said the minister.

In September last year, EU member states agreed to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers and refugees from Italy and Greece, but so far only 4,439 refugees have been relocated, 4.5 percent of the pledged number.

Malta has taken in 38.17 percent of its quota.

Unlike most other EU countries, Malta has not been affected by the migration crisis, a phenomenon that saw over a million refugees claim asylum in Europe last year, and over 240,000 claims made in the first quarter of this year.

At the same time, the Maltese economy grew at a higher pace than most eurozone countries and unemployment has sunk to a record low of 4.0 percent, lower than that of any other EU country. More than half of the new jobs on the island are now being taken up by foreigners. Endit