European Commissioner Franco Frattini’s proposals have put the EU on the right track with regard to illegal immigration, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said yesterday.

He was speaking during a meeting of the European Justice and Home Affairs Council.

Dr Borg said there was still a lot to be done and border states expected the EU to pay more attention to the situation they were in, because sea patrols were only one example of “solidarity”.

Financial aid, said Dr Borg, is another form of solidarity.

He said that funds did not set the level of emergency but vice versa.

Malta needs immediate financial assistance in order to meet past and future

capital expenses incurred in running the closed and open centres.

No one should expect Malta to be the sole guardian of the southern border of the EU, said Dr Borg. The country lacks both the will and the ability.

“Government will continue to fulfil its obligations while safeguarding the national interest as it did in the case of the Spanish trawler,” he said.