Labour backing the government's stand

The Labour Party does not agree to any reduction of Malta's Search and Rescue area, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat has said, insisting that on this issue the government will find the "full cooperation" of the opposition.

"Malta should not give in to pressure being exerted by Italy," Dr Muscat said when asked his reaction to the Italian Foreign Minister's suggestion that Malta gives up its SAR area to Italy.

He said Malta should keep up the pressure on the European Union to intervene and solve the "sensitive immigration problem".

"So far, a lot was said on EU cooperation but not much has been achieved. It is time the EU acts before another crisis occurs," Dr Muscat said.

Over the weekend Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said the SAR area was "not for sale" insisting that no talks were held with Italy on the matter.

The government's position has not changed since a Cabinet decision in April that Malta had no intention whatsoever of reducing its SAR area.

In the wake of claims by five surviving Eritrean immigrants rescued off Lampedusa that 73 migrants on board the same dinghy died after spending almost 20 days lost at sea, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini tried to blame the incident on what he said was Malta's "lack of resources" to patrol its large SAR.

The government and the army have denied the charge with Dr Borg going one step further and saying that neither Malta nor Italy were to blame for the latest incident, since when the dinghy was first spotted it had only five people on board and was in the Libyan SAR area.

Any agreement with Italy on the SAR region would not have prevented the tragedy, "if it ever happened", Dr Borg had said.

Malta's SAR zone, a relic of the colonial past under the British, covers some 250,000 square kilometres spanning from Tunisia to Crete.

In recent years Italy and Spain have been pushing for change within the International Maritime Organisation so that people rescued in a country's SAR area are taken to the coordinating country rather than the closest safe port of call.

It is widely believed that the position adopted by Italy and Spain is intended to pressure Malta into giving up its large SAR region.