I refer to the article Number Of Migrants May Soon Increase Drastically (July 21). In this article, the author states that “the number of asylum seekers reaching Malta from Libya could increase drastically in the coming months if predictions by the Malta-based European Asylum Support Office prove to be correct”. This is incorrect. Moreover, most elements of this statement were repeated in the article Foreign Minister Urges EU To Help Libya (July 24).

The European Asylum Support Office would like to clarify that although, as stated in its annual report, in 2012/2013 EU member states as a whole may witness an increasing number of asylum seekers from the various Arabic countries where uprisings took place in 2011, it does not predict that such increase will materialise nor which member states may be most affected by it. In fact, when writing its report, EASO uses the term “may” and not “will or shall”.