Speaking during the adjournment, Dr Borg said that the guidelines will tackle all the aspects related to the issue, from Maltaís position with its neighbouring countries and its lobby with the EU, to measures to improve the accommodation facilities provided to illegal immigrants.

The document will be open for discussion, he said, adding that he hoped the opposition will react positively to the document and make clear its position on the matter. The government, as had been stated by the Prime Minister, does not have a problem to hold a national conference on the issue. Dr Borg emphasised, however, that the opposition has to present itself with a consistent position.

In this respect, he complained that recent comments by the opposition leader on the issue have not been fair towards the government, adding that he hoped the issue would not be politicised.

The most annoying comment made by Dr Sant, he said, was his claim that the government is passive about this issue. In reality, the government is probably spending too much time and energy on the issue, possibly to the detriment of other areas, he said.

The problem was not created by the government, he pointed out, nor was it inherited from a previous government. The immigrants are the result of a global situation, whereby there are rich countries exist alongside others whose citizens are starving to death, he said.

He reminded that Maltese authorities only take action when there is a vessel in distress, adding that the alternative to this is to take a chance with the lives of boatloads of people, among which women and children.

The problem really started in 2002, he said, when 1,680 illegal immigrants came over for the first time on boats. This was a change from previous patterns of illegal immigration when people used to come by air and then stay here. The trend has changed again as before the immigrants used to be shipped on large vessels, now they reach our shores in boats with 20-30 people on board.

ìWe are facing a crisis,î he said, adding that early in June there were 100 immigrants held in the detention centres while yesterday there were 830, an eightfold increase over the summer months, he pointed out.

Despite criticisms, Malta is the only country to give asylum to one applicant out of every two, he stressed. ìWe are generous with those who deserve it but hard on those who donít.î

Concluding, Dr Borg appealed once again for the issue not to be politicised and added that even on the international front the government has always stood its ground when it was right on a particular incident.