Both the government and the Church would have to make considerable concessions to reach a compromise on the proposed embryo freezing reform, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

He was speaking as a Church delegation presented a copy of its study on the Embryo Protection Act to the government.

The study, published on Saturday, concluded that the introduction of embryo freezing in Malta was scientifically unnecessary and unreasonable.

The Church group which worked on the study included experts in the field of clinical medicine, law, psychology, social policy, family studies, disability studies, philosophy and theology.

Presenting the study, Emmanuel Agius, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, said the law should be maintained as is, since it strongly upheld the dignity and integrity of the human embryo.

Dr Muscat thanked the Prof. Agius for contributing to the national debate on the issue, but said he had already made his position clear.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly declared he will forge ahead with plans to reintroduce widespread embryo freezing, after it was banned in 2013.

Despite this, Dr Muscat said the government was open to discussion.