Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this afternoon called for more support from Europe to help tackle Malta’s migration problem.

“Last year, we had 2,000 people arriving illegally. That translates to 100,000 people entering Belgium or one million in Germany. I do not think that this is sustainable. We are putting forward our proposals for solidarity to Europe,” Dr Muscat said in an interview on TV station Al Jazeera.

He said that the government made a conscious decision in saying that all options were being considered, including that of pushing back the migrants to Libya, in order to make Europe “wake up and smell the coffee.”

“When you are left on your own and are left with years and years of empty talk and very little solidarity, you have to consider all options. This is a country that has always respected and will continue to respect its obligations,” Dr Muscat said in reply to a question asking whether the last group of migrant arrivals will be sent back to Libya.

He pointed out that even now, rescue operations are ongoing to help migrants out at sea.

Dr Muscat stated that the EU “was quick in rescuing banks, and it must also rescue people at sea.”

The Prime Minister said that he was inundated with “nightmarish calls at night” from the “navy, army and home affairs minister,” detailing the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

He insisted that this is a “European problem, not a Maltese one.”