Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today that it is the Americans who intervened to give Malta a helping hand in terms of rescue operations of migrants since Europe has forgotten all about us, referring to the fact that a US warship yesterday rescued hundreds of migrants.

Dr Muscat was speaking during an interview conducted by Abraham Abela on One radio.

Turning to social benefit abuse, Dr Muscat highlighted that the government will be clamping down on social benefit abuse, adding that a number of individuals were registering for work “genuinely” but others preferred to stay in their comfort zone and get paid for doing nothing.

“Between January and April, the number of persons registering for work decreased when compared to the same period in 2013 under a PN led government.

“The numbers haven’t reached the 8,000 mark as the leader of the Opposition claims it to be; it’s 1,000 less but we are not satisfied and we will be working harder to continue bringing the numbers down.

“We are looking at who is registering for work and why they are doing so; I have no doubt that a number of them are registering for work genuinely,” he said.

 “I had no problem saying this prior to the election and have no problem stating it now: the government will clamp down on social benefit abuse,” Dr Muscat said.

He said that the near future will not be a time of rest for the government but on the contrary: “The government will double its efforts in the coming months and will be tackling precarious employment, discussing the decriminalization of drugs, tackling pensions, and creating tax incentives," he said, referring to the fifteen per cent flat tax rate on property rentals.

Turning to precarious working conditions, Dr Muscat said that the government was studying the change it intends implementing in this regard but won’t do so before the right strategy is put in place and after reviewing any repercussions which may follow.

On healthcare, Dr Muscat said that the first year of a Labour government has already witnessed a number of changes in the healthcare system, including strategies to reduce waiting lists of MRI scans and cataract operations, pointing out that pacemaker operations will start to be conducted in Malta instead of overseas.

On the EU’s specific recommendations for member states, Dr Muscat said that these are only recommendations and in no way mean that member states have to implement these recommendations.

“We need to convince the EU that the wording they used tied to pensions is not the right wording," he said, referring to recommendations that the retirement age should be increased, while reiterating that this will not happen.

On the privileges committee which is discussing the Opposition leader’s claims that Dr Muscat interfered with a police investigation tied to former EU Commissioner John Dalli, Dr Muscat said that “once the Opposition leader refused to take back his claim, I had no choice but to ask the Speaker of the House to give a ruling.

“We respect any ruling given by the Speaker, whether it is in favour or against us,” he said.

He continued: “I took the witness stand the first time a meeting was held and the Opposition bombarded me with questions and I had no problem replying to all the questions.

“I am not the accused here but it is the leader of the Opposition,” he lamented.

"The next thing which followed is that I was criticised for not attending a meeting and instead watched an international football game.

"Now it is the PN leader who is not attending such meetings, is he watching a football game as well?” he asked.

On the justice reform, he said that the most important thing is that justice will be served in a timely manner.

Dr Muscat said that although we were not hearing of so many migrant flows, the problem is still there.

“We currently have a situation whereby a good number of migrants are crossing the seas,” he said, at times up to 30 boats are crossing the seas at the same time.

“Never before have we seen the Armed Forces of Malta conduct so many rescue operations; Europe has forgotten us and the Americans are giving a helping hand,” he said.

He said that despite the fact that the resources of the Italian authorities were overstretched, they were still cooperating with Maltese authorities.

Turning to the PN’s defeat in the MEP elections, he said that if the PN is happy with the result everbody is happy; Beppe Fenech Adami can go on being negative.