Updated | PN – Muscat won’t win EU support using threats • UNHCR – pushbacks not an option

Updated at 1:03pm with PN, UNHCR reactions

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has called on EU president Herman van Rompuy, expressing his lack of satisfaction at the way member states were being left "alone" to face asylum seeker arrivals.

Malta yesterday gave safe harbour to some 300 asylum seekers from Eritrea, Nigeria, Algeria and Tunisia. Another 100 Syrian asylum seekers were taken to the Italian port of Syracuse by the Italian coastguard.

"Our policy is to be compassionate with the weak, but strong with the politicians," Muscat said, whose government has already abstained from an EU vote related to asylum.

But the Labour prime minister said that he was still not excluding employing controversial pushbacks. "Yesterday's situation was a particular emergency in itself," Muscat said of the joint-rescue organised with the Italian coastguard.

"I told Van Rompuy that Malta will start using all legitimate ways of expressing its lack of satisfaction at the way the EU is leaving various member states to face this phenomenon alone," Muscat said, who said Van Rompuy will be visiting Malta next week for a 24-hour visit.

"We will reply with more strength if we see a lack of response from the EU," Muscat said.

"This is not a situation of normality," Muscat said of irregular migration in Malta. "Our principle point is that we will not be beggars here... we will demand assistance."

In a reaction, the PN dubbed Muscat's statement as a populist attempt at appearing decisive "in blatant disregard of the suffering of those who arrived overnight."

"If the Prime Minister thinks he will win support at European level by using threats, he has another thing coming. This approach goes against the basic premises on which the European Union is built and will isolate Malta from the other EU member states."

On its part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malta said that asylum seekers from Libya remain at constant risk of exploitation, arrest and indefinite detention. UNHCR representative Jon Hoisaeter called into question Muscat's comments on pushbacks.

"In this situation it is evident that forced return or push-back of asylum seekers to Libya is not an option, as this would constitute a breach of international law."

Muscat is expecting concrete examples of solidarity for the Mediterranean, in the same way that the EU member states have responded to other European crises such as those in the eurozone.

The prime minister said his government will assist migrants at sea in distress, but said the island "will not open its doors to everyone".

The vessel in distress with some 300 migrants onboard was at 40 nautical miles from the coast of Malta. Three of 10 migrants urgently admitted at Mater Dei Hospital were suffering from old gunshot wounds that could have occurred over 10 days ago. An immediate joint rescue operation between Maltese and Italian forces kicked off, with the priority being to transfer the 10 migrants requiring urgent medical assistance to the closest hospital - Malta's.

So far in 2013, around 600 asylum seekers have arrived in Malta, while almost 200 beneficiaries of protection have been assisted to settle in the US and other countries offering support, which is unique in the EU context.

The number of arrivals in Malta in 2013 is lower when compared with the same period last year. Nevertheless, while the country has managed to establish an effective asylum procedure, the irregular arrival of asylum seekers continues to present significant challenges for Malta.

In an opinion piece in the Times of Malta on 20 June, the UNHCR Malta Representative suggested that Malta's "calls for additional support are more likely to succeed on the basis of a clear definition of Malta's own capacity and planned contribution for the coming years. 'Malta is too small' is not likely to go very far as a stand-alone argument."