The Network will enable the Member States along the South-West Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean Sea, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Malta, Greece and Cyprus, to develop an overall plan for conducting specific operations, including surveillance in selected areas of the sea.

While speaking of EBPN, the Vice-President Franco Frattini, Justice, Freedom and Security European Commissioner referred to the boatload of 53 illegal immigrants that went missing in Maltese waters on Monday. “The European Patrols Network is further proof of Europe's added value in managing the EU's Southern sea borders. The challenge posed by illegal immigration calls for innovative instruments and courageous political initiatives. As shown by the recent tragedy near Malta, involving the likely death of 50 immigrants, all efforts to reduce the loss of life at sea, such as the European Border Patrols Network, are essential, and I am ready and willing to support it”, he explained.

"The Patrols Network will help the Member States concerned to forge a European team spirit, which will further develop mutual trust and a culture of exchanging all relevant information regularly, and at the same time to use their available resources more efficiently, thus achieving positive synergies and economies of scale. Eventually the Network should also envisage the direct involvement of interested third countries to make it become truly effective".

In other news,Malta, along with Greece,  Italy and the United Kingdom were singled out for cases of unlawful detention of illegal or for having denied necessary guidance and legal support to new arrivals in Amnesty International’s 2007 human rights report.

Amnesty International argued "the European Union (EU) as a beacon 'union of values' looked increasingly ambivalent" over the past year, with the treatment of illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and its own Roma population highlighted as the key subjects of concern, reported EUobserver.

"The lack of long-term sustainable solutions and the discourse of fear that dominates political agendas have led to disturbing manifestations of racism and discrimination in Europe," said the NGO.

Its world-wide monitoring review unveiled on Wednesday, criticises most member states on a wide range of issues.

As illegal immigrant arrivals started to intensify earlier this week, the EU's border control agency Frontex is for the first time launching its own network of sea patrols to combat illegal immigration, according to EUObserver. Its focus will be on the Spanish Canary Islands which alone saw at least 30,000 immigrants arriving by sea last year.

The patrols will be coordinated and implemented by the different countries with Frontex. "This will allow avoiding overlapping of patrols and the effective sharing of operational information," it said in a statement.

Read more about this issue on MaltaMedia's special feature: Lanċa Ġejja u Oħra Sejra: Malta and its migrations.