The constant stream of unsubstantiated press releases with the government trying to claim credit for things it had nothing to do with has reached ridiculous proportions, European Affairs shadow minister Roberta Metsola said this evening.

She said that the latest claim that somehow the previous PN-led administration "only absorbed 72.8 per cent of the money allocated to it through the European Refugee Fund and the External Borders Fund" and  that it "wasted around 30 per cent of the funds the EU allocated to Malta to help it deal with irregular migration" was mathematically and factually wrong.

"The government should know that there are four migration funds and not only two under the 2007-2013 programming period.

"Two of these funds, including the External Borders Fund, are not necessarily linked to irregular migration. Projects such as the building of a consulate in Shanghai or the procurement of Advance Passenger Information technology by the police are linked to external borders and not to irregular migration and are still financed under this fund," she said

Dr Metsola said that under a Nationalist administration, the four funds together had just over €45.5 million available (excluding technical assistance) of which €39.5 million (87 per cent) were absorbed.

These figures, she said, were publicly available.

This government, Dr Metsola said, had to stop trying to take credit for the success of others and concentrate on the challenges it was facing.

It should explain why the recruitment of crucial senior management was delayed by a year in the migration unit and for two years in some other cases, she said.