Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning that the agreement on migration reached within the European Union last week was an insurance policy for Malta.

Speaking in a One Radio interview, Dr Muscat observed that Malta currently did not have a migration crisis in that only 92 migrants had arrived this year.

But other countries such as Italy and Greece had a crisis.

Malta was consistent in its views that all EU member states needed to show solidarity with the countries carrying the burden of migration. It was for this reason that it had accepted to take a number of migrants from other countries.

This, Dr Muscat said, was an insurance policy, in that should, in the future, Malta have its own migration crisis, it would expect other countries to show similar solidarity.

Dr Muscat also spoke briefly on the economy, saying that recent economic data, including the way the deficit had been cut and the way jobs were being created, showed that the government was on the right course and was taking the decisions which promoted growth. 

GREEK CRISIS AND TERRORISM - NO ALARM FOR MALTA

On the unfolding Greek financial crisis, Dr Muscat reiterated that Maltese banks had no exposure to Greek banks and financial institutions, and therefore there were no grounds for alarm locally.

When he was questioned on the recent upsurge of terrorism in several countries, Dr Muscat said he had been in touch with the heads of security services in Malta. All should be vigilant, he said, but there were no indications of any alarm in Malta. Had there been, he said he would have immediately warned the people.