The prime minister did not achieve what he had sought about immigration in the EU summit, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this afternoon.

The summit had ended with nothing new, nothing concrete, and no timeframes on Malta's proposals to tackle immigration, Dr Busuttil told a press conference.

Mandatory burden-sharing was not realised and the final document did not even refer to Malta.

In nine months of Labour government Malta received more migrants than a year under the former government, and not even one had been relocated to a European country, Dr Busuttil said. Under the PN, 700 were relocated to EU counties and 1,300 to the United States.

Dr Busuttil said the prime minister's negative cowboy tactics had not achieved anything other than harm Malta's reputation. Xenophobia had also increased as a result of his comments. 

GOVERNMENT REACTION

The government in a statement said Dr Busuttil's reaction to its achievements was a case of sour grapes.

The PN government did not achieve anything in nine years but Dr Muscat's government had brought about a change of direction and put migration at the top of the European agenda.