The standoff, not to say diplomatic incident, between Malta and Italy over the fate of the 154 illegal immigrants who were rescued by a Turkish cargo ship, was not the first and neither will it be the last.

Malta and Italy have often been at loggerheads over what to do in circumstances involving the rescuing and landing of immigrants. It is understandable that both countries, while taking into consideration the human aspect of the different situations, seek to avoid adding up to their problems.

The argument this past weekend was whether the migrants, taken on board the MV Pinar, should have been disembarked in Lampedusa, which was the closest port to the cargo ship, or brought over to Malta since they were rescued in the area under Malta’s responsibility.

A four-day dispute ensued, and it was not an easy one to solve. The Italian government initially held firm, but following a telephone conversation on Sunday evening between prime ministers Lawrence Gonzi and Silvio Berlusconi, Italy finally accepted that it had no other road to take than to allow the migrants on its soil.

In a statement made in Parliament on Monday, Dr Gonzi said that Malta was legally, ethically and morally correct in the decisions it took. The government also received the support of the opposition on this matter; the two sides of the House hold very similar views on the illegal immigration issue, and having a common front puts Malta on a much stronger foothold.

The Italian government may have been diplomatic in the way it dealt with the situation, but the Italian media was not. Sections of it sarcastically commented that Malta claims to be the island of hospitality but in this particular case failed to live up to its name.

What the Italian media ignored was the fact that Malta was correct in its assessment of the situation. Had the Maltese government given in when it knew that it was doing the right thing, then a precedent would have been created.

Of course, the matter does not stop here. In spite of accepting the migrants, Italy has not taken the matter lying down, and will do its utmost to put Malta in as much bad light as possible in the eyes of the European Union. Yet, the comments made by the EU’s commissioner for justice, freedom and security, Jacques Barrot, back the stand that was taken by the Maltese government.

Let’s face it, both Malta and Italy, and other countries such as Spain and Greece who also have to deal with the phenomenon, would like to have the least number of immigrants to take care of. They cannot but accept those who arrive on their shores, but such haggling is to be expected when migrants are rescued from the sea.

The thing is, the European Union as a bloc and its individual member states have done little, very little, to help Malta. Efforts that have been made in the past have more or less failed, as the number of migrants flowing out of the north of African and coming over towards Europe – many of them landing in Malta – continues to grow.

There were years when this used to happen only in the summer months, but this has now become an exercise that spans across the whole year, and the boats are getting bigger too. Whereas, in the past, most Maltese used to pity the migrants, today they are being seen as a burden and the people’s sentiments towards them have drastically changed.

The incident that occurred last weekend once again highlighted the importance that the European Union, while giving Malta a helping hand it desperately needs, should work out better ways how to try to curb the problem.

Malta cannot do it on its own. The EU has the duty to give its assistance.