The European Union's top migration official on Sunday called on all member states to commit more money and resources to preventing to death at sea of migrants who try to reach Europe from Africa across the Mediterranean.
"It is clear that the increased pressure that Italy, Malta, Greece and other Mediterranean countries are experiencing is a European problem, and that a sound management of migratory and asylum flows at national level has to be accompanied by supporting initiatives and measures at EU level," EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom wrote in The Sunday Times of Malta.
Her appeal comes after the death of hundreds of migrants in two shipwrecks off the Italian island of Lampedusa this month, and ahead of an EU summit on migration next week.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whose country has been appealing for help to deal with the influx, criticised European inaction and accused EU leaders of "only waking up when people die". Malmstrom said operations spawned by the European Commission were permitting better means to detect, track and identify boats and vessels, rescuing migrants earlier and saving lives.
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