European leaders will be meeting in Brussels over the next two days and one of the items on their vast agenda is the signing of a pact on irregular migration and asylum, which lays down a common policy that includes the concept of burden sharing.

The agreement on the pact by ministers responsible for home affairs last month had raised controversy in Malta – with the government saying it was a great victory that Malta had managed to secure the idea that bigger states could take immigrants from Malta, while the other three political parties said it was not enough.

In particular, the Malta Labour Party had insisted that the burden sharing concept was only included on a voluntary basis, meaning that no-one was obliged to help Malta in its predicament and this therefore did not change the position that much. Labour had even said it would support the government unconditionally if it vetoed the pact, but the government said it is going ahead with its plans to sign it.

Since then, more statistics have been published – and these continue to confirm that the irregular migration problem has grown to unprecedented highs.

The Emigrants’ Commission last week brought out all the starkness of the situation when figures it published show that Malta’s situation is unique in the world. There are 40 irregular migrants per square mile – and we already know that Malta is one of the most-densely populated countries in the world, certainly the most populated of the 27 European Union member states.

The population density in continental Europe is 91.5 people for every square mile – which is just double the migrant population for every square mile in Malta – whereas Malta’s density is 3,276 per square mile.

Apart from this, the number of landings this year has already passed the birth rate. In simple terms, the number of irregular migrants who have come to Malta is higher than the number of babies born to Maltese mothers.

Many of the migrants who land in Malta, if not all of them, come here by sheer chance. Although Malta is a much better place to live in than their own country, their destination is not a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean, but mainland Europe, where the prospects of leading a decent life are much bigger. They only stop here because Malta “is in the way”.

This has led to a situation where the part of the problem Malta is carrying is disproportionate to its size and resources. And this is why the government has for many years been insisting in international spheres – not only at EU level – that Malta needs all the help it can get to deal with the problem.

That the European Union will be signing the pact in Brussels this week is only the first step. And while the position taken by the Malta Labour Party on this matter is understandable, the fact that the Maltese government has persuaded the other EU members to include such an important clause on burden sharing cannot be thrown aside.

The hardest part will come after the signing, not before it. The hardest part is to push all EU member states, through all the diplomatic channels possible, to accept more migrants from Malta; to turn the “voluntary” part into something more concrete. Too many few countries have accepted too many few immigrants from Malta, and it is time that they do not only show their solidarity through words, but also by easing Malta’s burden.

Last week, when Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis paid a visit to Malta, it was said that the irregular migration pact needs to be “signed, sealed and delivered”. The signing is a formal way of agreement. What is important is the delivery, or implementation, of the pact.