Prime Minister Robert Abela predicts that this summer will be a difficult one when it comes to migration.

Speaking during a political activity in Floriana, Abela said that like he is convinced that the country will experience a strong economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, it will face a difficult summer when it comes to migration.

Abela said that migration is a complex situation, and that there were a disproportionate number of boats arriving last summer, when compared to what the country can handle.

He mentioned that the government has been criticised over its handling of the issue. "We had a member of the opposition, who is today part of a case with civil society to bring 50 migrants to Malta."

He was here referring to a court case opened against Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, Army Chief Jeffrey Curmi and against him. The case was opened by relatives of two people - Mogos Tesfamichael Welday and Filimon Mengsteab Ghebremedhin - who they said were left to die of thirst or drown in a 'rescue' operation coordinated by Malta. By government order, the 50 people who were on the same boat were loaded onto a government-commissioned boat and taken to camps in Libya. The application also asks the court to declare that Malta has breached its obligations under European law to consider asylum applications with regards to the 50 survivors.

Abela, speaking about the migration issue in general, said that abroad all countries have a unifying internal position when it comes to the disproportionate weight of migration of their respective countries, but said that this is not the case in Malta.

He said that migration is a difficult topic for him. "It is a subject full of difficult decisions that affect your conscience, decisions you cannot make mistakes on. It is a topic that separates a serious leader and those who can't lead. My position is clear, the interests of the Maltese people come first."

He spoke of Air Malta, and the problems it faces. He said that "our target is to save the company, and it can be saved."

Abela Turned to the Opposition Leader's criticism of the government's vaccination strategy. "The Opposition said that Malta was the worst in Europe when it comes to vaccination rates. Statistics show that we are the best." He said 10% of the population has been vaccinated thus far.

He spoke of the government aiding businesses such as through the wage supplement, "while the opposition factions were targeting each other internally."

Abela said that there were people who suffered as a result of the pandemic and stressed the importance of the government remaining close to the people, to continue listening to the people.

He said that due to people having a lower income in 2020, some were going to have their pensions affected. As such, he said that the government enacted a new law. "The way pensions work is that it takes the best three years of the last ten years someone was working. So the problem was that, if one was meant to have their best income year in 2020, Covid impacted them. We decided to do something about it. The law we enacted means that, for pension purposes, the income of 2020 will be measured according to what a person earned in January and February. So if in January and February a worker was earning the same amount as the previous year, then for the sake of their pension the rest of the year will be weighed on those two months as though they did not have a reduction in wage for the rest of the year due to Covid-19."

He said that for self-employed people who were negatively impacted, their 2019 income will be measured as their 2020 income for their pension.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the attacks against Carlos Zarb. Recently, PN MP David Thake blasted the appointment of teenage local councillor Carlos Zarb to the FinanceMalta board of governors, noting that this is happening while all of Malta is fearing the outcome of the Moneyval assessment.

The Prime Minister said that when Zarb was first elected to the local council in St Paul's Bay, he had received enough votes to be Deputy Mayor, yet some people came out against this saying that the regulations prohibited someone of that age holding such a post.

"I was the only person behind him and kept fighting for him. We didn't manage, but I had insisted on his right to have the position."

"Now, they attacked him as he is on the Finance Malta Board. In 2019, this government changed part of the contract for the foundation, created a youth committee and placed an obligation for there to be one youth member on the board. We believe that youth leadership in government is important."

"So what is Zarb's sin? He is part of the Labour Party."

"They criticise saying that we appoint people based on their political affiliation. You know what they don't say? That just this week we appointed someone to the public contracts review board, in front of which appeals from government tenders are made, who is a former PN councillor and candidate. It is one of the most crucial boards in the country. This person was made Chairman."