The Minister pointed out that since the beginning of 2007, Malta has saved 315 shipwrecked immigrants attempting to enter Europe by sea, 250 of whom were taken on board Maltese ships in a fortnight.

While criticizing the present state of affairs, Dr Borg added that "It is unbelievable that on the doorstep of Europe we are having this tragic situation and not enough is being done."

Malta has urged the other 26 EU member states for the setting up of a burden-sharing system under which illegal migrants rescued or intercepted by EU ships outside of European waters would be taken in by the bloc's countries.

According to EUX.TV, Minister Borg stated that "It is fair that those immigrants who are saved are distributed on a rotation basis between the 27 EU member states," earlier on Tuesday. Under the Minister’s proposal, illegal migrants should temporarily be sent to the EU member state which is nearest to the point of their interception before being transferred to another EU country where the asylum applications would be processed.

However, EU diplomats said that the bloc's governments were unlikely to agree on such Malta’s proposed scheme since the issue already had been under discussion for at least 15 years, when the EU saw an influx of refugees following the conflicts in former Yugoslavia.

On his part, speaking after the meeting, German interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said appeared to back Malta’s call for solidarity. According to EUX.TV he said that the 27-0nation bloc must work on creating a burden-sharing system for admitting illegal migrants after they have been picked up outside European waters.

  "When you have a European system of frontiers, you also need to have a fair allocation system," he explained. Although he admitted that setting up such a scheme "will be a long road," he said that Malta could not be abandoned with regards to this issue.

In other news, assistance on the issue of illegal immigration set to arise from a regulation on migration and international protection statistics, approved by the Council of Europe on Tuesday. It is set to be used as a basis for the distribution of resources with regards to the phenomenon.

Vice-President and EU Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini, the regulation will not only improve knowledge of migratory phenomena in the bloc but also be used as a basis for the distribution of resources of the new Programme "Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows" among Member States.

The text had already been approved by the European Parliament in March, under the co-decision procedure. The Regulation specifies the collection of statistics relating to international migration flows, foreign population stocks, acquisition of citizenship, asylum applications and decisions, measures taken against illegal entry and stay, returns of unauthorised migrants, and residence permits issued to third-country citizens.

Although Eurostat has in recent years compiled certain statistics under specific arrangements with Member States, there has so far not been a comprehensive legal base for statistics on migration and international protection. Current statistics are characterised by poor data availability and significant national differences in key statistical definitions.

The focus of the proposed Regulation is on harmonised statistical outputs, with common definitions based on existing and forthcoming EU measures relating to immigration, border management, and asylum issues, and on established international standards, in particular the United Nations Recommendations for migration statistics. According to the subject matter, these statistics are to be collected on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.

To allow Member States time to make necessary amendments to their data collection systems, the proposed Regulation also allows for data to be supplied according to national definitions in the first year following its coming into force, namely 2008, which will then be reported in the following year.

The Regulation provides a framework which needs to be completed through the adoption of implementing measures in the form of Commission regulations. The European Statistical System will be actively involved in the preparation and implementation of such measures which are expected to be adopted in 2008.

Read more about this issue in MaltaMedia's Special Feature Lanċa Ġejja u Ohra Sejra.