The lightning quick visit by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to meet his Spanish counterpart Luis Rodriguez Zapatero seems to have been quite fruitful in the sphere of migration patterns.

Dr Gonzi was in Spain to meet Mr Zapatero prior to the state assuming the role of EU Presidency on 1 January. The Spanish Presidency will preside over a number of firsts – steering the EU out of recession, concretely tackling the illegal immigration problem and the first summit dedicated to the Union of the Mediterranean.

In Spain, Malta has found an ally. Spain is a Mediterranean country and suffers as a result of illegal immigration, primarily the Western route from Africa to the Canary Islands. No one can forget the photographs snapped a couple of years back where tourists were sunning themselves on loungers at the beach as the bloated corpse of an African person bobbed in the water, metres away from their feet.

But as mentioned, Malta has found an ally. Spain, with a horrific 20 per cent unemployment level fully understands Malta’s position, especially through the experience it has had with the Canary Islands.

The Mediterranean countries have never been so strong when it comes to potential clout to force through a deal on burden sharing. Thanks to Malta’s vocal pleas for help, most EU nations have finally come round to the idea of spreading the refugees that enter Malta around the bloc. They have read interviews, seen footage, spoken to immigrants themselves and they have come to realise that Malta cannot cope alone.

Of course, the same goes for Italy, Greece and Spain. No single state can bear the burden alone. The agreement struck between Italy and Libya to repatriate migrants, along with a beefed up AFM and Frontex have led to reduce the amount of arrivals this year.

But what is needed is for Mediterranean countries, particularly Malta, Spain, Italy and Greece to band together and really force the agenda during this presidency.

If one goes back to the beginnings of the migration phenomenon, the Mediterranean nations which we have already mentioned tended to fight their battles individually, lobbying to the EU, the EC and member states.

This did not prove to be effective. The fight to stem immigration only became more effective when countries like Italy and Malta put aside their differences and concentrated on the task at hand.

The Spanish Presidency poses a golden opportunity for all countries which are directly affected by the migration problem. Spain, although not regarded as one of the EU’s big guns, certainly has more clout than Malta. Using the same argument, Italy, Malta, Spain and Greece carry even more clout. Now if these states band together and really make a stand – under the banner of Spain as the country holding the EU presidency, maybe idle promises might start to become a tangible reality.

We have seen a few countries commit to taking migrants from Malta, but we have still been met with promises and ‘support’, but many member states have stopped short of making a commitment to take migrants. On a closing note, Spain has supported Malta’s bid to host the EU Asylum Agency. Spain, however, has not expressed its full support.

If Malta truly believes that it can cope with the logistics of hosting this agency, then we should be vocal in our drive to be successful. What is certain is that a Mediterranean Presidency will understand and be more sympathetic to our plight than our Nordic and most central European cousins.