The big question

Following the latest crisis to hit the Mediterranean, Nigel Morris asks how we should tackle the crisis over migrants desperate to reach Europe?

..Malta is struggling to cope with the human tide, with nearly 200 illegal immigrants arriving in the past week alone. It is refusing to accept any more newcomers, leaving boatloads of Africans in a diplomatic limbo. They include a group of 26 stranded on a Spanish tug-boat and another boatload eventually that was rescued by the Italian navy after clinging for several days to a vast tuna net. At least their lives were saved...The pressure points have changed over recent years. When the Balkans were in turmoil, large numbers fled across the Adriatic. By the turn of the century, Iranians, Iraqis and Afghans were squeezing into lorries that brought them to the West. Now it's the seas around southern Europe that are the focus of desperate activity..

The authorities in Malta now face an acute dilemma with any illegal immigrants who manage to land - and no mainland to send them to. It has in the past taken a liberal approach to them, but has recently declared that it is full and unable to accommodate any more. The issue is one of the most acute problems facing most European governments - and one that nations in the front line are struggling to cope with on their own. They should be backed up by Frontex, the EU's borders agency, which has 20 aeroplanes, 30 helicopters and more than 100 vessels at its disposal. But its help has been patchy, and plans for a rapid-response team have yet to materialise. In fact, Spain has blamed the absence of Frontex craft as the main reason for this month's unexpected influx of migrants into the Canaries...

Update: IHT: EU concedes failure in migration policy