Some 8,000 migrants were stopped by the Libyan authorities from leaving towards Malta, Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo said.

Writing on Facebook, Bartolo said that 6,000 of these were stopped since March.

Between March and August this year, Malta received 1,173 migrants, against the 3,357 in the same period last year.

Bartolo said that although the number of migrants who departed from Libya this year amounted to 20,600 – three times as many as last year – Malta had received less than half the number registered in 2019.

He again criticised the European Union for doing little to alleviate the problem countries like Malta and Italy were facing.

Between 2005 and 2020, EU countries had taken only eight per cent of the migrants that had landed in Malta. And it seems that there is not more reluctance from many European countries.

The best way forward is for migrants not to start the journey, and here the EU must be ready to help by stopping human traffickers who were making millions from the services they are providing, Bartolo said.