EUR-Lex Access to European Union law

Back to EUR-Lex homepage

This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website

Malta - Justice and Home Affairs

Short-term priorities:

  • To lift the geographical reservation to the 1951 Geneva Convention in the field of asylum;
  • To boost participation in international cooperation in the field of justice;
  • To adopt specific legislation on asylum and to set up structures in charge of dealing with asylum requests;
  • To sign the Council of Europe Agreement on illicit drug trafficking by sea;
  • To strengthen the staff of the economic crime squad and the services in charge of the fight against drugs;
  • To ratify the European convention on the laundering, search, seizure, and confiscation of the proceeds from crime;
  • To sign the Council of Europe criminal law convention on corruption and the OECD Convention on bribery.

Assessment (November 2001)

With regard to asylum policy, Malta has announced that it will lift the geographical reservation to the Geneva Convention on Refugees. Maltese legislation is now aligned with the Union acquis. The Council of Europe agreement on the trafficking of drugs by sea has been signed and the services responsible for the fight against drugs have been strengthened. Thus priorities have been acted on to a large extent.

Evaluation (October 2002)

Malta has continued its efforts to implement the law on refugees and to bring its laws on immigration into line with the Community acquis.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Medium-term objectives:

  • To continue with the progressive alignment of visa legislation and practice with that of the European Union;
  • To continue the fight against trafficking in women and children.

Assessment (November 2001)

No progress has been made on legislation relating to justice and home affairs.

Evaluation (October 2002)

Malta has adopted and begun to implement a timetable for bringing policy and practices relating to visas into line with the acquis.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Following the signing of the Accession Treaty on 16 April 2003, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004.

REFERENCES

Decision 2000/249/EC of 20.03.2000Official Journal L 78, 29.03.2000

Commission Report COM(2001) 700 final - SEC(2001) 1751Not published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2002)700 final - SEC(2002) 1407Not published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2003) 675 final - SEC(2003) 1206Not published in the Official Journal

Treaty of Accession to the European Union [Official Journal L 236, 23.09.2003]

Last updated: 19.11.2004

Top