Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has indicated that he is backing a proposed regulation that would no longer allow EU countries to export dinghies and motorboats to Libya, unless they have specific permission.

 "These are used to send immigrants to EU countries. With such a small measure which I believe would be implemented quickly, we could send a strong message that one cannot first speak against human trafficking then us as EU countries have companies selling dinghies with which they send people to Europe. Can you stop it all? No, but it will send a strong message."

He was addressing the press in Brussels during an EU Summit.

Turning to statistics showing a rise in the Mediterranean migration route, he said the Malta declaration has already started leaving the expected effect, as if there wasn't an agreement between Libya and Italy, if training for the Libyan Coast Guard did not occur, things would be much worse. "I spoke with the Libyan Prime Minister and there was an exchange of views. So far the first batch of Libyan Coast Guard were trained and we are waiting for the second batch."

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was asked whether he feels a sense of optimism that there is in the EU and whether he believes this could result in a false sense of security. He said that economic indicators are improving and many countries are taking their decisions. "France took its decisions and now we move towards the decision Germany needs to take. Spain has reduced its unemployment and these are all things that give a sense of optimism. It is a start. While our country has been doing well for the past years, other countries have only now started to do better. So if our country was able to do well when other countries were just kickstarting, I believe we can do even better when economies that are tied to us improve their performance."

Turning to Brexit, security etc, he said that Brexit was the decision of the English people. "As for whether it happens or not there are doubts as it is a fluid situation in the UK." He mentioned that at the Summit they are talking about how to protect the interests of EU citizens, including Maltese in the UK, while looking at the interests of UK citizens living in Malta and the EU mainland." He also said that they are discussing whether security services in EU countries should have access and find help in cases of suspected terrorism from messaging devices (like Whatsapp) that terrorists are using. "It is difficult for some agencies to decipher. There is, on the agenda, a hot point, whether EU should expect that these companies should give us access in specific cases."

Asked whether he is pleased with Malta's work during the Presidency, he said that facts show we delivered and performed as expected if not better. He said that they will soon give a handover to Estonia and the scope of this meeting was for this.