Muscat criticises migration 'extremes', calls for sensible solution

Updated at 2.15pm with PN statement Prime Minister Joseph Muscat hit out at “extremes” on both sides of the migration issue, insisting again that Malta could not be expected to come up with a solution alone.Speaking at a political activity in Żabbar, Dr Muscat said Malta could neither listen to those calling for migrants to be left to drown at sea, nor to those who said anyone arriving by boat should be accepted into the country.“We have to be humanitarian and give help when it’s needed, but this is also a question of security; we cannot allow a free-for-all,” he said.“Writing from behind a keyboard in the comfort of your home is easy, but I believe many of these people have no idea what they are saying. If the same people walked outside and saw an injured cat, they would try to help.”The Prime Minister was speaking at the end of a week in which 49 migrants were brought into Malta, at the end of a 22-day ordeal which saw them stranded at sea on board rescue vessels as EU countries debated who should take them in.Dr Muscat, however, insisted that the migrants could have been taken back to Libya or onwards to Tunisia or Italy, the latter of which had refused entry, and that the...