Pope meets with embattled Malta PM despite plea to cancel

Yahoo – AFP, December 7, 2019

Pope Francis and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat meet at the Vatican,
despite calls from academics for the pontiff to cancel the event (AFP Photo/Handout)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis held a private audience with outgoing Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Saturday, despite a plea to cancel the meeting over a scandal-hit investigation into the murder of a journalist.

The Argentine pontiff met Muscat and his family for an event the Vatican said had been scheduled months ago.

Muscat said Sunday he will step down in January after mass protests over a much-criticised probe into the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, which has also led to the resignations of his chief of staff and tourism minister.

Twenty-two Maltese academics sent the pope a letter, dated before Muscat's decision to step down, asking Francis to cancel a meeting they slammed as a "propaganda exercise" for the prime minister.

They said it would be "totally unwise, and pastorally undesirable" for the audience at the Vatican to take place, "given the serious and grave nature of the accusations and allegations which are plaguing" the government in Valletta.

Caruana Galizia, a mother of three described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks", was blown up in a car bomb attack near her home in October 2017.

The reporter had become known for exposing cronyism and sleaze within the country's political and business elite, including among Muscat's inner circle.

Francis joined the cries of outrage across the globe over her slaying, sending a rare formal note of condolences, which are usually reserved for the deaths of prominent world leaders rather than private citizens.

Related Articles:

Malta PM to step down over slain reporter case: party sources

Malta PM to step down over slain reporter case: party sources

Yahoo – AFP, Matthew Xuereb, November 30, 2019

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has faced mounting criticism over his
government's handling of the murder of Caruana Galizia (AFP Photo/Christof STACHE)

Valletta (AFP) - Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will step down on January 18, party sources told AFP Saturday, following mounting criticism of his response to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Party insiders said he would step down once those behind the killing had been charged and once his Labour Party has chosen a new leader.

"He always said that he will be leaving soon and he feels that now is the time to go," said one party source.

First however, he wanted to see that the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder was solved on under his watch, as he had promised, sources added.

"After the mastermind or masterminds are arraigned in court, he plans to announce that he will be stepping down and that there will be a leadership election on January 18," a party source told AFP.

The sources did not say when 45-year-old Muscat would announce his decision -- or whether it would be via a televised announcement -- but they stressed that he would not stay beyond January 18.

The news came amid mounting pressure from Caruana Galizia's family and protesters on the streets, who have cried foul over his handling of the affair.

Mounting pressure

The escalating murder investigation has rocked the tiny Mediterranean island and reached the highest rungs of the country's politics, with two ministers and Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri stepping down from their posts this week.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening 

after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder to 

disclose what he knows about the case (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder, tycoon Yorgen Fenech, to disclose what he knows about the case.

It was the sixth such demonstration in two weeks.

Fenech has identified Schembri as the mastermind behind Caruana Galizia's 2017 car bomb killing, according to sources.

Schembri was arrested on Tuesday, but his release on Thursday sparked accusations of a cover-up.

Muscat, who has vowed to resign if links were found between himself and the murder, said Friday he would remain in power, telling reporters he wanted "this case to be closed under my watch".

But Caruana Galizia's family, who have accused the prime minister of protecting his long-time chief of staff have called for him to go.

"We share Malta's shock and anger at the release of Keith Schembri," the family said in a statement.

"At least two witnesses and multiple pieces of physical evidence implicate Schembri in the assassination of our wife and mother."

They accused Muscat of playing "judge, jury, and executioner in an assassination investigation that so far implicates three of his closest colleagues".

'Disgraceful'

Muscat said Friday he had recused himself from the decision on whether to grant immunity to Fenech.

Protesters reacted angrily after Yorgen Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests
span the energy and tourism sectors, was released (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The prime minister later said he had reported Fenech to the police for attempted blackmail, saying the mogul had threatened to implicate him in the affair if he was not given a pardon.

Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests span the energy and tourism sectors, was arrested on his yacht last week after an alleged middleman in the murder, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was offered a pardon to identify those involved.

That arrest was followed swiftly by the resignation of Schembri and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, while economy minister Chris Cardona said he was "suspending himself".

Caruana Galizia, a popular journalist and blogger described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks", exposed cronyism and sleaze within the country's political and business elite.

Before she was killed, she had alleged that Schembri and Mizzi had been involved in corruption. She had named Cardona in a separate case.

Leaked emails revealed in court appeared to show both Schembri and Mizzi stood to receive payments from a Dubai company called 17 Black, owned by Fenech.

The Caruana Galizia family said Schembri and Fenech have the same doctor, who reportedly served as an intermediary, passing secret notes between them.

'Fear for my life'

A Maltese court is expected to rule Monday on a request by Fenech for the chief investigator in the case, Keith Arnaud, to be removed, amid allegations he also had close ties to Schembri and the prime minister.

After his release on bail Fenech told journalists he feared for his life.

"This is happening in the EU, right now. Where is the voice of the European Commission or other EU leaders?" Robert Barrington, former head of Transparency International in the UK, said on Twitter.

The European Parliament is planning to send a mission to Malta, a parliament source told AFP.

The Netherlands is a tax haven alongside Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, say MEPs

DutchNews, March 27, 2019

Photo: Joep Poulssen

Members of the European parliament have voted to include the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus on the official EU tax haven black list. 

However the motion, proposed by Dutch Labour MEP Paul Tang, will not have any affect on the listing because members states have to unanimously approve every inclusion, the Financieele Dagblad said on Wednesday. 

The official EU blacklist of places considered to facilitate tax evasion now comprises 15 countries, after 10, including Aruba, were added earlier this month. However, Tang said this did not go far enough, and referred to research last year by the European Commission which said the Netherlands cooperated with ‘aggressive tax planning’. 

Tang’s motion was passed by 408 to 205. 

Dutch junior finance minister Menno Snel said in a reaction that he was astonished by the vote. ‘The Netherlands has a leading position in the battle against international tax evasion,’ he told the FD.

Brussels tells the Netherlands, other EU countries to clean up golden visa schemes

DutchNews, January 23, 2019

The IND offices in The Hague. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The European Commission is urging the Netherlands and 22 other countries to halt schemes granting ‘golden’ visas and passports to foreign investors because of the risk they could involve criminal cash. 

The commission said in a new report on Wednesday that allowing people to pay for citizenship or residence presents serious risks to the country itself, but given free movement rules, has an impact on the entire union. 

Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta grant foreign investors citizenship without requiring them to live in those EU countries in return for hefty fees. And the Netherlands is one of 20 countries offering a residence permit in return for payment. 

In the Netherlands people can qualify for a residency permit if they invest €1.25m in an innovative company or a firm which has added value for the Dutch economy. 

The commission said there is a lack of ‘transparency and oversight’ for the residence schemes, including too few statistics on how many people obtain a residence permit in this way. It plans to set up a group of experts to improve the supervision of the schemes. 

Spain, Cyprus, Portugal and Britain are said to gain the most financially from operating the schemes. 

A foreign ministry spokesman told the Volkskrant that officials are looking into abolishing the Dutch system. DutchNews.nl has contacted the IND for comment.

The European Union urged member countries on Wednesday to crack down on schemes granting "golden visas and passports" to foreign investors, warning they can bring corruption and money laundering in their wake https://t.co/CdlHrAwUBX

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 23, 2019

Pope promotes Maltese archbishop known for fighting paedophilia

Yahoo – AFP, November 13, 2018

Archbishop of Malta Charles Scicluna has been appointed adjunct secretary
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (AFP Photo/CLAUDIO REYES)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Tuesday promoted the Archbishop of Malta, one of the church's most trusted investigators in paedophile priest cases, as the Vatican seeks to quell a damaging global sex abuse scandal.

Mgr Charles Scicluna, 59, has been appointed adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog that receives reports of sex abuse in the church, the Holy See said in a statement.

Scicluna is already the head of the congregation's special council examining appeals by priests suspected of serious crimes such as child sex abuse.

He was the Vatican Court's chief prosecutor investigating cases of paedophilia among priests for a decade until 2012, making a name for himself with his determination.

Scicluna allowed an investigation into Father Marcial Maciel, Mexican founder of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and the perpetrator of numerous cases of paedophilia.

Earlier this year, the pope dispatched Scicluna to Chile for an investigation into an alleged cover-up by Bishop Juan Barros of abuse by a paedophile priest during the 1980s and 1990s. Barros has since resigned, along with several other Chilean bishops.

Francis has called for a meeting of all the heads of Catholic bishops' conferences worldwide at the Vatican in late February to discuss the issue of the "protection of minors".

Andorra, one of Europe's last abortion holdouts

Yahoo – AFP, Charlotte DURAND, 28 September 2018

In Andorra, having an abortion is punishable by up to six months in prison

Andorra is best known as a ski destination and tax haven -- but it's the tiny principality's status as one of Europe's last countries with an abortion ban that activists want to highlight on International Safe Abortion Day.

Even in cases of rape or when their lives are in danger, women in the country of 85,500 people nestled in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, have no right to an abortion.

Only Malta, the Vatican and San Marino, another micro-state surrounded by Italy, have the same rules, putting them in a group of outliers which lost a key member this year when Ireland voted to overturn its near-total abortion ban.

In Andorra, having an abortion is punishable by up to six months in prison.

"I had a baby that was at risk of dying in my stomach, but I didn't have the right to have it removed," said Sonia, who learned in the fifth month that her foetus had an incurable disease and would likely not survive the pregnancy.

Sonia -- her name has been changed -- had already announced the pregnancy to her friends and family, but ultimately decided to make the "difficult" decision to abort.

"I would have had to wait for him to die, keep him inside me for several days before realising, and then give birth to a dead baby," said Sonia, who is in her thirties.

Like some 120 other women who head across the border each year to Spain to terminate pregnancies, she travelled to Catalonia -- Catalan is the official language of Andorra -- to have the procedure.

"You come to our country to buy cigarettes -- we come to your country to buy our rights," reads a slogan on a pro-legalisation poster shared on social media.

"It's a form of torture," said Vanessa Mendoza Cortes from the Stop Violencies (Stop Violence) group which is campaigning for the legalisation of terminations.

On Saturday, the group is organising Andorra's first ever street protest in favour of decriminalising abortion.

"We should have the right to have an abortion in our hospitals, and not have to go to Barcelona with guilt and shame," said Mendoza Cortes, who wants to make it an issue in next year's legislative elections.

She decried the local system as "hypocritical", with the authorities turning a blind eye to women heading abroad for the procedure.

It's an option that's only open to women who can pay between 600 and 1000 euros ($700-$1,160), usually handed to the Spanish doctor in an envelope.

Maria, who had an abortion at 18, said she was "lucky" her family were able to scrape the cash together, but she is well aware that for many women "this is far from the case".

Today, aged 27, she recalls her shock at her Andorran gynaecologist forcing her to listen to her foetus' heartbeat, trying to dissuade her from ending the pregnancy.

The journey back from the abortion clinic in Spain took three hours by road, during which she was doubled over with abdominal pain.

She returned deeply distressed, but "there was no psychological or medical support afterwards", she added.

Doctors risk jail

Andorran doctors risk up to three years in prison and a five-year ban from practising if they are caught performing abortions.

Even giving patients information or the address of a clinic abroad is against the law, doctor Eric Sylvestre Dolsa told AFP.

"In cases where the mother's life is in danger, it would clearly pose a huge ethical problem for me as a doctor if you were to apply the law strictly," said the general practitioner.

He is one of few Andorran doctors openly backing legalisation, "no matter the motivation" for ending the pregnancy.

Many doctors are reluctant to debate abortion frankly due to fear of the instability that could arise from the issue blowing up in a principality with a unique political set-up, he said.

Although it is a parliamentary democracy, Andorra has two "co-princes" as head of state: French President Emmanuel Macron, and Joan-Enric Vives, a Catholic bishop staunchly opposed to abortion.

Vives has threatened to abdicate if abortion is legalised, noted Elisa Muxella, head of Andorra's Human Rights Institute.

"The government is hiding behind this excuse and saying that if we had abortion it would put our institutions in peril," said Muxella.

Sonia said she'd like to see Macron take a public stance on the issue.

"Do something for Andorran women," she implored him. "I don't want to see my daughters go through the same thing as me."

Journalist murder sparks push to heal politically-polarised Malta

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, October 22, 2017

Flowers and candles were placed at a shrine outside Valletta's Palace of Justice
(AFP Photo/Matthew Mirabelli)

Valletta (AFP) - Citizens mourning the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia are calling for Malta's deeply-ingrained tribal politics to be put aside so the shaken island nation can begin healing its wounds.

The initial shock at Monday's car bomb assassination is now turning into demands for a united front -- with tens of thousands, party allegiance aside, expected at a national rally on Sunday demanding justice for the journalist.

Caruana Galizia's anti-corruption blog shone a light into the murky corners of Maltese politics, rattling the Labour government -- and, more recently, their sworn enemies in the Nationalist opposition.

On Saturday, the government offered an award of 1 million euros ($1.2 million) for information leading to the arrest of those responsible, saying it was "fully committed to solving the murder" and to "bringing those responsible to justice".

"As we are seeing protests develop, we become aware of what has been fought for in terms of maintaining democracy," said Geraldine Spiteri, one of many paying her respects to Caruana Galizia at a growing tribute of flowers, candles and messages in Malta's capital Valletta.

"People in Malta politicise every issue," the lawyer said, citing the "deep-rooted tribal mentality, which is very worrying".

"But certain things go beyond that. I am encouraging people to attend on Sunday to show the powers that be, on both sides, that people are concerned."

Maltese politics is split between Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's centre-left Labour Party, and the centre-right Nationalists.

Family party loyalty is strong. Come election time, families can expect personal visits to ensure turnout. With votes pretty much secure, partisan point-scoring can take priority over upholding the tiny Mediterranean islands' democratic institutions.

Caruana Galizia's grisly assassination has added further fuel to the politicians' tribalist bickering.

'Crocodile tears'

Carmelo Pace, a retired factory worker, was a self-confessed "avid" reader of Caruana Galizia's blog.

"I don't support the government, I support the opposition, but they are just pointing fingers at each other," the 74-year-old said, adding that politicians lamenting her loss were shedding "crocodile tears".

Caruana Galizia, 53, made searing allegations of financial corruption against Muscat's inner circle, largely based on the Panama Papers leak, forcing him to call a snap election in June -- which he won comfortably.

She had recently turned her spotlight on Adrian Delia, the new leader of the Nationalist Party, which hitherto had sought to capitalise on her allegations.

Kurt Sansone, online editor of the Malta Today newspaper, said that following her murder, the country's long-running political divisions now had to be addressed.

"The polarisation does not help because our institutions need to be beefed up. This is not a situation that started a few years ago," he told AFP.

"The hope is now that the police and the magistrate can get to the bottom of this. The country needs closure in order for us to move forward."

Newspapers in the European Union's smallest state are running a common front page on Sunday, under the slogan "the pen conquers fear".

Hours after they hit the newsstands, the community-organised national demonstration for justice will march through Valletta's historic streets.

Young generation unsure

"People need to go. It's important. If no-one goes, nothing will change," said Marie, 22, a teaching student.

"Something is definitely wrong in Malta. If people our age do nothing, that means the future will be the same. Let's try and think positive."

At the impromptu memorial to Caruana Galizia, sun-seeking cruise ship tourists photograph the flowers.

Older Maltese sit on the shady benches and debate the aftermath, while younger residents do likewise on their smartphones.

An air of fatalism has swept around online forums where young people have been discussing the murder, leaving the next generation unsureabout where Malta goes from here -- a duty, in a country of only 430,000 people, that will inevitably fall into their hands.

"Unfortunately, especially on social media, a lot of people are saying that this is the end of democracy and freedom of speech," said Robert Napier, president of the University of Malta students' council, who has been trying to bolster undergraduates' morale and resolve.

"No matter how far people are willing to go, nothing should silence our students, who are ultimately the leaders of tomorrow."

Shock at murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia now turning to demands for justice https://t.co/M9ptv7YYsY pic.twitter.com/yjW9NDOKlx

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 22, 2017

Related Articles:

Slain Malta journalist's sons dismiss reward, tell PM to quit

Thousands rally in Malta to demand justice for murdered journalist #caruanagalizia pic.twitter.com/2FcoNmnqan

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 23, 2017

Slain Malta journalist's sons dismiss reward, tell PM to quit

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, October 19, 2017

Matthew Caruana Galizia (C) and Peter Caruana Galizia (2ndL), son and husband
of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and policemen walk past the wreckage of the car
bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia (AFP Photo/STR)

Valletta (AFP) - The sons of a murdered Maltese journalist on Thursday dismissed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's offer of a reward to help find her killers and called for him to quit.

Muscat has ruled out quitting and has vowed to bring those responsible for killing a reporter he has described as his "greatest adversary" to justice, with the help of FBI investigators.

On Wednesday Muscat told parliament that the government would put up a "substantial and unprecedented reward," for information leading to a conviction over Monday's car bomb killing of anti-corruption campaigner Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Her sons revealed that the government was putting up a million euros, but said they would not bow to pressure to endorse the idea.

"We are not interested in a criminal conviction only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mother's murder to turn around and say that justice has been served," they said.

"The Prime Minister asked for our endorsement. This is how he can get it: show political responsibility and resign."

Caruana Galizia had used her widely-read blog to highlight numerous cases of suspected corruption, including several scandals implicating Muscat's inner circle which had left her facing a string of legal suits.

Daphne Caruana Galizia had used her widely read blog to highlight numerous 

cases of suspected corruption (AFP Photo/Matthew Mirabelli)

Her sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul, said Muscat should resign because he had worked to "cripple our mother financially and dehumanise her so brutally and effectively that she no longer felt safe walking down the street.

"And before resigning he can make his last act in government the replacement of the Police Commissioner and Attorney General with public servants who won’t be afraid to act on evidence against him and those he protects."

Muscat called and won an early election in June after the late journalist said she had evidence that his wife Michelle was the beneficiary of a secret Panama bank account.

Caruana Galizia, 53, alleged the account was used to stash kickbacks from Azerbaijan's ruling family linked to an Azeri bank gaining a licence to operate in Malta.

Muscat asked a magistrate to investigate the claims and has vowed to quit if any link is established between him and hidden offshore accounts.

The investigation, which the opposition has derided as rigged, is ongoing.

The journalist's killing has caused shock around the world and prompted much soul-searching in Malta over whether the country is becoming a cesspit of corruption against the backdrop of an economic boom which some see as having allowed both organised crime and a kickbacks culture to flourish.

Catholic priest in Malta accused of sexually abusing boys

A chaplain has been arraigned on charges that he sexually abused three teenage boys. The news comes as the Catholic Church attempts to deal with the growing number of sexual abuse cases around the world.

Deutsche Welle, 14 Oct 2015

More than 90 percent of Maltese inhabitants are Catholic, according to
the CIA World Factbook

A Catholic priest in the largely Catholic country was officially accused on Wednesday of sexually abusing three teenage boys between 2010 and 2013.

The 44-year-old, Donald Bellizzi, the current chaplain of the airport chapel, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court rejected his lawyer's request for bail.

Bellizzi is accused of sexually abusing three boys who attended a group encouraging them to join the priesthood. The boys, who were minors at the time, are now between the ages of 18 and 19 years old, German news agency dpa reported.

The Maltese Church Safegaurding Commission confirmed the case in an online statement, saying they immediately passed the complaint on to police. In the past, the Catholic Chuch had sought to deal with such issues internally without law enforcement.

The accusation comes as the issue of sexual abuse grows more and more pressing for the Catholic Church. Last month, Pope Francis met with victims of sexual abuse during his tour of the United States.

"For the sexual abuse of children, these cannot be maintained in secret, and I commit to a careful oversight to insure that youth are protected and all responsible will be held accountable," he said during a speech in Philadelphia.

blc/msh (dpa)

Italy seizes mafia assets worth 2 bn euros in gambling sting

Yahoo – AFP, Ella Ide, 22 July 2015

Italian police arrest an alleged mafia member in Rome, on February 10, 2015

(AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Rome (AFP) - Italian police said Wednesday they had seized assets worth two billion euros ($2.2 billion) belonging to a powerful organised crime syndicate, in the latest sting against the mafia.

The assets snatched from the 'Ndrangheta mafia, which controls much of Europe's cocaine trade, included more than 1,500 betting shops, 82 online gambling sites and almost 60 companies, as well as numerous properties, the police said.

Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 28 people suspected of running the gambling empire and placed 23 others either under house arrest or ordered them to check in with the police.

The crew is believed to have been headed by mobster Mario Gennaro, who made his way up through the mob in the southern region of Calabria from local to regional chief because of the gambling ring's success.

The 'Ndrangheta is considered the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy, having surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra thanks to the wealth it has amassed as the principal importer and wholesaler of cocaine produced in Latin America and smuggled into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy.

Profits from the trade, which is worth billions, were laundered through the gambling empire.

The gang "recycled an enormous amount of 'dirty' money through the use of gaming accounts assigned to willing or unwitting people", police said in a statement.

"They bypassed the laws governing this sector, accumulating significant profits that were then reinvested in the acquisition of new companies and licences to further expand their activities."

Italian police escort an alleged member of the N'Drangheta mafia after his 2010

arrest in Corigliano Calabro (AFP Photo/Mario Tosti)

Eleven of the companies seized were based abroad, in Austria, Malta, Romania and Spain.

'Serious blow'

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described the sting in Reggio Calabria as "a serious blow to the 'Ndrangheta".

The name 'Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organisation's tight clan-based structure has made it hard to penetrate.

In a triumph for anti-mafia hunters, dozens of alleged mobsters linked to the group were detained at the end of last year in and around Milan, Italy's business capital, on charges of criminal association and extortion.

Police released secretly-filmed footage of men undergoing initiation into "Santa" (holy) membership, whereby promoted mobsters swore allegiance to their new "wise brothers" and took an "oath of poison" under which they vow to kill themselves should they ever betray fellow clan members.

A separate sting in January led to the seizure of a notebook written in a hieroglyphic-style code which detailed the initiation rites and the 'Ndrangheta's hierarchical structure from "piciotto" (foot soldier) up to Godfather.

It also detailed the clan's own mystical account of how its structure and "code of honour" came into being as a result of three knights landing on an island off Sicily after being banished from Spain for avenging the honour of their raped sister.

The gambling operation came just two weeks after authorities seized goods worth 1.6 billion euros from a Sicilian mafia family, which included 33 companies, hundreds of houses, villas and buildings, 80 bank accounts, 40 insurance policies and over 40 vehicles.

Related Article:

Italian police seize 1.6bn from Mafia family

EU Commission proposes 10-point migrant crisis action plan

Yahoo – AFP, 20 April 2015

The body of a person who died after a fishing boat carrying migrants capsized 

off the Libyan coast is brought ashore, retreived by the Italian Coast Guard, in

Malta on April 20, 2015 (AFP Photo/Matthew Mirabelli)

Luxembourg (AFP) - The EU unveiled a 10-point action plan Monday to stem the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean after the latest disastrous loss of life, promising to step up both control and rescue operations.

The European Commission said the plan, approved by EU foreign and interior ministers at an emergency meeting in Luxembourg, will be submitted to a summit Thursday as the 28-member bloc tries to halt a growing death toll off its southern shores.

European Union foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said the plan reflected a determination to respond after the sinking Sunday of a boat carrying perhaps 700 migrants and reports of other vessels being in trouble.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini 

gives a joint press conference during an 

emergency meeting in Luxembourg on

April 20, 2015 (AFP Photo/John Thys)

"We need to show that same collective European sense of urgency we have consistently shown in reacting in times of crisis," Mogherini said.

"The dire situation in the Mediterranean is not a new nor a passing reality," she added.

The 10-point plan calls first for the current Triton maritime frontier mission to be stepped up, both in funding and resources so it can cover a wider issue.

Triton replaced Italy's own Mare Nostrum mission which Rome scrapped late last year in protest that its EU partners did not share the burden of the cost.

The EU will also try to capture or destroy people smuggler boats and increase cooperation across the board, the Commission said.

The bloc will offer too a "voluntary pilot project on resettlement, offering a number of places to persons in need of protection," a key but small step forward in spreading out the problem.

Diplomats said this could cover 5,000 places but the Commission statement gave no figure.

Additionally, the EU will "establish a new return programme for rapid return of irregular migrants."

It will also step up cooperation efforts with neighbours of war-torn Libya, the epicentre of the problem, the statement said.

Related Articles:

Opinion: Legal migration to Europe is the only answer

MOAS: 'Migrants do not deserve to die out at sea'

Pope Francis appoints first Briton as Vatican foreign minister

Liverpudlian Paul Gallagher, 60, currently working as ambassador to Australia, gains senior post after papal reshuffle

The Guardian, John Hooper in Rome, Sunday 9 November 2014

Pope Francis has appointed Briton Paul Gallagher as foreign minister, a post regarded
as a stepping stone to the papacy. Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis has appointed the first Briton to be the Vatican’s foreign minister – a post regarded as a possible stepping stone to the papacy itself.

Paul Gallagher was promoted as part of a reshuffle at senior levels of the Vatican, which Francis used to sideline the main spokesman of a conservative faction at last month’s synod. The 60-year-old, from Liverpool, is currently the Vatican’s nuncio (ambassador) in Australia.

An acquaintance of Gallagher, speaking on condition of anonymity, described him as “a discreet man, but with a calm and engaging personality. He is not over-formal and really quite proactive.”

Gallagher, who holds the rank of archbishop, will head the Vatican section charged with overseeing its worldwide diplomacy.

Before being sent to Australia, Gallagher had served as the pope’s envoy in Guatemala and Burundi, both countries that had been torn apart by civil war. In Burundi, he took over from a predecessor who had been assassinated. Archbishop Michael Courtney, from Ireland, died of gunshot wounds after his car was attacked in 2003 as he was returning to the capital, Bujumbura.

Gallagher also spent five years as an official in the secretariat of state, the Vatican department that doubles as a form of interior ministry, looking after relationships with the various national churches, and as a foreign ministry. He is regarded as well versed in the often Byzantine ways of the Roman curia, the central administration of the Catholic church.

In Australia, where he has been the nuncio since 2012, he found himself at a focal point of the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic church: more than 100 Catholic priests have been charged with abuse-related offences there.

Last year, Gallagher was involved in a standoff with the Cunneen inquiry into cases of sex abuse in New South Wales. He at first claimed that documents sought by the inquiry were covered by diplomatic privilege, but surrendered them last December.

Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, told the Guardian: “We are delighted to see a British secretary for relations with states for the first time in history. Paul Gallagher is a very capable man, highly regarded here in Rome both by foreign diplomats and within the curia.

“He is a good linguist and a good diplomat – someone who has served in difficult and dangerous places. He has an impressive track record.”

The reshuffle that led to Gallagher’s promotion followed a two-week gathering of Roman Catholic leaders that ended in a setback for the pope after traditionalists blocked the endorsement of even a watered-down document proposing that gay men and women “be welcomed with respect and sensitivity” into the church.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American, came to be seen as the leading representative of the conservatives after an interview criticising an earlier and more radical draft. While the synod was still in session, Burke signalled to Buzzfeed that he was going to be dismissed from his job as prefect of the Segnatura Apostolica, the church’s supreme court. When asked who had told him, Burke replied: “Who do you think?”

A two-line statement from the Vatican confirmed that the 66-year-old American had been made patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta, a largely ceremonial post normally bestowed on retired cardinals or given as a second job.

Gallagher’s predecessor, the French prelate Dominique Mamberti, takes over Burke’s job and is expected to be made a cardinal.

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