Updated - Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this evening proposed a 'common front' between the government and the opposition on migration.

Speaking in Parliament after a statement by the prime minister on last week's EU summit, Dr Busuttil said migration should be taken out of partisan politics and the government and the opposition should work together in Malta and abroad.

This offer, he said, was being on condition that: The first priority would be to save lives. Secondly, once migrants were rescued, every effort should be made to control the influx of migrants in the country such that Malta did not shoulder an excessive burden.

Thirdly, everyone had the right to be treated with dignity and enjoy the right to seek protection. Therefore, there should be no pushbacks of migrants, but those who were not eligible for protection should be sent back.

Lastly, Dr Busuttil said, populism should be taken out of migration and the language used, because it fomented racism and xenophobia.

Dr Busuttil said there should be sincere cooperation between the government and the opposition, with the opposition being kept fully informed of the situation, even through meetings of the House committee on migration.

He asked Dr Muscat if he would accept the proposal.

Dr Muscat said the reply was 'yes'. However Dr Busuttil was wrong to imply that the former opposition had not sought to help the then government on this issue.

He welcomed Dr Busuttil's proposal, he said, but in his view this common front existed in the past and was being reconfirmed.

Earlier in his statement,  Dr Muscat said that in the summit Malta reiterated its support for the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker to head the European Commission in line with the outcome of the European Parliament elections. He regretted that the UK opposed this decision and forced a vote. The UK, Dr Muscat, was an important member of the EU. He regretted that the UK's membership could be subject to a referendum, which would coincide with Malta's residency of the EU.

On immigration, Dr Muscat said the joint efforts of Italy and Malta were leading the EU to realise the urgency of the issue. Malta however was not happy with EU action so far and was demanding more. An EU task force was working on the issues, including a common asylum system. The summit conclusions, for the first time, included reference to 'effective implementation' of subsidiarity and burden sharing, something which did not happen before.

Migrants who set foot in Malta, or other European countries, should be considered as having set foot on Europe as a whole, Dr Muscat said. It was a concept which was meeting resistance in some quarters, but Malta would continue to insist on this point.

Migration was a serious issue. Two nights ago, 17 boats were detected crossing the Mediterranean. Last night, Italy rescued 600 migrants.

All of the AFM's resources were being dedicated to this issue, which was a serious matter for Malta's security. So far, the number of arrivals had not been high, but that could change overnight. Had half of those who crossed last night come to Malta, the situation would have been transformed.

One of the Italian Navy's ships was isolated last night because one of the rescued migrants had a highly infectious disease. Italy had assumed a heavy burden, Dr Muscat said, and the EU, with commitment, could do more.

Dr Muscat said the government was identifying a place to house migrants who were unaccompanied minors and how the place would be managed.

Replying to a question, Dr Muscat said that integration should not be seen as a dirty word, but he disagreed with giving the migrants the right to vote.

Dr Busuttil said the Opposition agreed with the government's position on the nomination of Mr Juncker to head the European Commission. He also agreed with Dr Muscat in his hope that the UK would remain part of the EU.

Turning to migration, Dr Busuttil said that over the past year Dr Muscat raised the people's expectations in this regard, but not much had been achieved. Dr Muscat had spoken of the reference to 'effective action' on burden sharing being a first. That was not the case. Over the past 10 years the summit had consistently referred to fair sharing of responsibility. But what Malta needed was implementation in practice, not play with words.

Malta had been facing the challenge of immigration for 12 years. Alas, it had never had a common front between the government and opposition on this issue. Matters needed to be done differently and with greater maturity.

The Opposition was adopting a different attitude than the former Labour Opposition, which used to criticise the former government repeatedly on this issue.

He therefore proposed the common front on migration.  

The sitting is still in progress.