The consensus following the extraordinary summit on migration held in Brussels on Thursday seems to be that while slight progress has been registered, much more needs to be done to save lives at sea.

But there is hope. On Thursday, it was made clear that Frontex’s Operation Triton’s mandate would not be altered. The EU was willing to send more assets to the Mediterranean, but the operation was to remain one of border control, rather than search and rescue.

Yesterday, however, an EU Commission spokesman said that in addition to tripling funding for the Frontex mission to €9m, it would be sending its ships “further into the Mediterranean in response to the deadly exodus from Libya”.

The spokesman said a new operational plan for Triton will be agreed with Italian authorities and that this "will be ready in the coming days." The terminology is ambiguous, but it seems that the mission statement will be changed to extend the patrolling area beyond 30 kilometres of Italy’s southernmost point.

The offers to send assets have been encouraging. The contribution from the UK is one of the largest, with a helicopter flagship, two patrol boats and three helicopters which would probably be based in Malta. France will be committing two ships and two planes, Germany will be sending two ships, Latvia a patrol boat and a helicopter, Ireland one ship, Belgium one ship and non-EU member Norway will be committing one civilian vessel.

These will bolster Malta and Italy’s ability to deal with the influx no end. But there are other areas where the EU is still falling way short of what was expected. From Malta and Italy’s point of view, the biggest issue is that there was no commitment for mandatory burden sharing. So far, the EU has baulked and refuses to commit to a hard and fast agreement. Malta has always said that it will continue to do its duty to save lives, but also maintains that the country’s infrastructure, as well as geography, does not allow for migrants to settle here in their thousands.

The EU has, on the other hand, opted to set a quota on the number of immigrants which will be allowed to settle in the bloc. Many have interpreted the repatriation proposal as being tantamount to pushbacks.

The big question now, is whether the EU will deliver on its promises. When it comes to migration, the union has been notorious for making promises and not delivering. The weather will improve in the coming weeks and that will see a spike in the number of people departing North African shores to make it to Europe. If the Italian authorities are right, and that 1 million people are waiting to leave North Africa to make it to Europe, we could see people being crammed on boats and arriving in droves. Given that the smugglers are running out of wooden boats, and the threat by the EU to destroy them, the smugglers will increasingly turn to inflatable dinghies that often end up deflating long before they reach European shores. What Europe must understand is that the time to act is now, today, before tomorrow. Assets still need to make their way here from their home ports and that will take time. The longer we wait, the more we run the risk of many more hundreds and thousands perishing while trying to make the crossing to Europe.