"The agreement by Member States on Monday on a naval operation to tackle traffickers is a step forward, but it is by no means the be-all-and-end-all of what the EU's approach to migration must be. If Member States can agree on military action, then there is no excuse for them not to agree on the fair sharing of responsibility too," said MEP Roberta Metsola in a debate in the European Parliament today.

Dr Metsola, who is leading the European Parliament negotiations on migration, thanked the Commission for its courage in putting forward a new policy on migration, saying that "is more ambitious than anything we have seen before. The policy finally acknowledges that migration is a European challenge that can only be addressed by a common European response, where every Member State acts in solidarity".

"I welcome in particular the proposal for the fair relocation and distribution mechanism among all Member States of beneficiaries of international protection and I eagerly await the promised legislation on this. The challenge now is to ensure that proposals on paper are translated into real action by the Member States. I realise that some States are still sceptical. But we are not talking about charity here. No Member State should exonerate itself from responsibility just because it is not geographically in the Mediterranean," said Dr Metsola.

Dr Metsola argued that the military naval operation should not "detract from the very real humanitarian and human crisis that migration in the Mediterranean has become. Any operation must go hand in hand with other measures to ensure that we have an all-encompassing approach to the issue".

Concluding her remarks, Dr Metsola said that "migration is a reality that we need permanent and long-term measures in place to deal with" and appealed for Prime Ministers to now take  the tough decisions required.