Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday Malta would act as a bridge between the EU and Libya. 

Abela visited the warn-torn country last Thursday, after which it was announced that the two countries will set up units to coordinate operations against irregular migration. 

Speaking on One Radio, he said the government understood what Libya was going through, as the country was facing its own migration influx. 

Turning to the outcome of a magisterial inquiry into migrant deaths at sea, the prime minister said the scope of the inquiry request by NGO Repubblika was to destablise the country. 

On Saturday, the government announced that the inquiry had cleared the prime minister and AFM of any responsibility for deaths of at least five migrants over the Easter period. 

Abela turned his guns on Opposition Justice spokesperson Jason Azzopardi for his role in triggering the inquiry. 

“For what he did, the strategy he used, I can never forget or forgive him. This was a personal attack, he knew we always sought to save human lives”. 

The prime minister threw down the gauntlet to Opposition leader Adrian Delia to take decisive action against Azzopardi. 

Abela argued that Azzopardi’s position as Opposition spokesperson for justice was no longer tenable. 

“Delia can either continue selling himself out to this faction or declare that this is unacceptable”. 

Abela said those who wanted his own head on a plate had another thing coming, as he would continue working in Malta’s best interests.

The prime minister said the inquiry had “paralysed” the AFM’s work. 

He said the only sin of those AFM soldiers who found themselves under inquiry was that they risked their own lives to save others.