Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola this afternoon accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of “fanning racism”.

Speaking during a visit to European Asylum Support Office, Dr Metsola referred to Dr Muscat’s claim that he was ready to adopt a push-back policy if necessary and his threat that Malta would use its veto in the EU, and said that with such statements, Dr Muscat would be more comfortable sitting among far right politicians.

“Such statements are very short-sighted. Malta faces isolation and the arguments to pursue are the geographic and demographic ones.”

When it was pointed out to her that Malta did not gain much using such arguments, she said the EU took 635 immigrants from Malta over the past four to five years, which was a significant number.

The head of the EASO, Robert Wisser, dismissed claims that Malta was being isolated and insisted that EU countries were being treated equally. However, he refused to comment further saying this was a political issue.