Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici feels that the recent spat with Italy on illegal migration helped to clarify certain matters. He also feels that Italian Home Affairs Ministers Roberto Maroni may not have been fully informed of the situation.

In an interview with Kurt Sansone (see above) Dr Mifsud Bonnici says this incident may have actually helped the Italian and Maltese governments get closer together to underline the immigration problem in other quarters.

He said he had shown Sig Maroni a very different picture to that painted to him in an Italian dossier. He insisted that there was a strong different between responsibility to coordinate rescues within the search and rescue zone, and the obligation to take migrants.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici insisted that there would be no talk of reducing Malta's search and rescue zone. One should not react to the migrants problem by reducing the search and rescue zone because this was important for a sovereign country in other areas, which could include air transit rights and possibly oil exploration.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici also replies to questions on Frontex, which are to resume their patrols in the coming days, and the PL proposal on the use of the veto in EU institutions.