The EU deal with Turkey had merely resolved one of the migration problem routes and shif-ted pressure on to countries like Egypt and Libya, the Prime Minister has warned.

Joseph Muscat was speaking during a conference organised by the European University Institute on The State of the Union in Italy.

“We might have solved one of the migration routes by reaching an agreement with Turkey. But there are other routes and therefore Europe hasn’t solved the problem. On the contrary, we are yet to see an increase in migrants crossing from other regions,” he said.

Under an accord struck with the EU, Turkey has agreed to help stop illegal migrants reaching the continent in return for accelerated EU accession talks, visa liberalisation and financial aid.

But Dr Muscat warned that it was not enough to help Turkey. Countries like Lebanon and Jordan faced big migration problems and were asking for European help as well.

Likewise, the EU was not paying enough attention to Libya, where the tension remained palpable, he said.

Europe needed to build its future by building fewer walls and injecting more trust, the Prime Minister said.

The conference was also ad-dressed by European Council president Donald Tusk, Euro-pean Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and European Parliament president Martin Schulz.

Dr Muscat also held a bilateral meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, in which the two leaders agreed that the Mediterranean region should be given high priority during Malta’s European Union presidency in 2017.