Malta should be strong and defend its national interest in the migration issue without compromising human lives, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Speaking on One Radio in an interview by journalists Christian Peregin (The Times) and Ramona Attard (One News) the Labour leader said that Malta should never have signed the EU migration pact three years ago.

This, he said, was a bureaucrat's exercise to appease the situation. The pact was weak and shortsighted because it did not address the crux of the matter. This was the situation in the countries of origin, namely north and sub-Saharan Africa.

He insisted that no life should be allowed to be lost and described clips being used by the Nationalist Party to try to depict him as condoning the drowning of children and blaming him for these deaths as "a fascist tactic".

Dr Muscat said that now that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had admitted that Italy had been wrong not to accept the 171 migrants rescued by the Armed Forces of Mlata close to Lampedusa, Malta should send these migrants to Italy.

"The national interest does not mean that you kill people but that you are strong," he said.

The Labour leader referred to the Home Affairs Ministers meeting in Luxembourg last Monday and said that Malta should have abstained from voting in favour of the final text, which Italy had approved with reservations.

He noted that many more summits had been held to discuss dropping bombs on Libya than on how to tackle illegal migration.

It was migration and not war that was a priority for Malta and the country should threaten the use of its veto on other issue unless the EU took this issue seriously.

Dr Muscat accused the Prime Minister of trying to sound tough in Malta but being meek with the EU.

The Prime Minister, he said, thanked those offering charity by taking some migrants "but we need long term solutions," he stressed.

He argued that if mainstream politicians did not talk about the national interest and security, which people on the ground were concerned about, they would be allowing the space for extremist politicians to breath.

"By speaking about this issue it does not mean that I am being racist or xenophobic.

"But unless we speak up, we will be allowing space for extremists to breathe."

Dr Muscat said that although racism worried him, he would not point his finger at people who were worried about their jobs and who were seeing a drop in their standard of living.

"Our duty as politicians to address their concerns," he said.

He said he absolutely did not agree with Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni's contemplation of withdrawal from the EU but stressed that Malta had limited resources and a limited capacity.

Dr Muscat said that when a boatload of Albanians had arrived in Malta in the early 1990s, the then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami had accepted the weak to come ashore and be treated medically but the rest were left on the ship and repatriated.

At that time, no one had accused Dr Fenech Adami of being racist or xenophobic.

On the EU's decision to grant long term residency rights to migrants, Dr Muscat said he agreed with the government's stand against this issue.

"Giving more rights in a situation where migration is not regulated and the EU is not showing solidarity would simply increase the burden on a country like Malta," he said.

In a reaction, Alternattiva Demokratika expressed its disagreement with Dr Muscat and said he should stop venting "dangerous, xenophobic and populist discourse" on the immigration issue.

Chairman Michael Briguglio said Labour was moving closer and closer to the Far Right. He said that the best and most humane way to deal with the immigration issue was to have diplomatic pressure for responsibility sharing within the EU, a line of action supported by the European Greens.

Robert Callus, AD spokesman for migration and citizenship said he was sure that deep down, Dr Muscat knew he would not be able to send boats back to Libya unless the situation there changed drastically, even were he to be Prime Minister.

"Muscat’s resorting to this cheap populism will only help create confusion in the minds of the Maltese, especially those less informed on this issue - the ones whose vote he's appealing for. This rhetoric will only help increase the problem of racism in Malta and fuel far-right extremism in the longer run," he said.