As the Libyan Unity talks began in Morocco yesterday, Italy and the UK have begun to make some loud noises on Migration. On Saturday, Britain’s UK Defence Minister defended his country’s stance against mandatory burden sharing, as was demanded by the European Parliament when speaking to the Maltese press after a bilateral meeting with Minister Carmelo Abela.

Then yesterday, Italian politicians based in the North of the country have said that the region has run out of space for migrants and that they will not take any more in. Given the multitude of promises that were made following the Libya tragedy, it seems that the EU’s emergency summit was once again, talk. Let us, however, look at the positives. When it comes to migrants at sea, Malta has always stated that its main concern is saving lives. Over the last weekend, some 6,000 people were rescued at sea by different vessels from different countries that have kept to the side of the bargain of committing assets to the Mediterranean to deal with the human tide that comes from North Africa.

The numbers are staggering. It is estimated that last weekend alone, some 6,000 migrants were saved. 2,371 were saved on Sunday from 15 inflatable vessels as they found themselves in difficulty shortly after leaving Libyan shores. Malta has largely been spared, at present, but the numbers are set to rise as the weather improves.

With Italy now baulking at the number of arrivals, we could be faced with a severe problem of where these people are going to disembark. Italian PM Matteo Renzi is regarded as more of friendly and understanding figure than his predecessor Enrico Letta was when it came to Malta. This attitude seems to have held, even as the number of rescues and crossings continues to climb.

But memories of standoffs  come back to haunt, and potential instances of disagreement of where to disembark rescued migrants might happen again. It is becoming abundantly clear that the security breakdown in Libya has given more licence to human traffickers to engage in their grisly trade. Given that reports show that Islamic State in Libya is allowing the trade to continue in return for a cut of the profits, then it only stands to reason that the numbers will continue to climb and result in record numbers trying to make it to Europe over the summer while the seas are calmer.

The situation is now at tipping point. The southern Mediterranean countries, Malta included, have been crying out for more help for year after year. Now that material help has arrived, but only in terms of saving lives. Many in the South feel affronted that the EU operation merely seems to be a hovering up one, where people are plucked from the sea and then passed on to (mostly) Italy for asylum process. We have said this time and time again. The journey of a migrant does not end in Italy. From there, they continue to seek more middlemen to smuggle them out and into Nordic countries such as the UK and others in Scandinavia. The camps set up in Calais and the horror stories of people being smuggled into lorries and transported over the British Channel. This is a European problem that affects us all. Mandatory burden sharing is the way forward.