The issue of migration has been plaguing the EU for over a year as the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and drive hundreds of thousands of people in search of safety in Europe.

Yesterday, EU leaders met in Brussels for yet another Summit. When Malta requested an extraordinary summit early last year, it was hailed as a new dawn for EU policy on migration and burden sharing. It turned out to be nothing more than hot air.

But as the situation began shifting from the Libya route to the Turkey to Greece route, all hell broke loose. Borders were closed and razor wire fences were put up. A steady tide of people still tried to make their way across the Continent through the Balkans, hoping to reach Germany and Scandinavia.

EU leaders agreed in September to share 160,000 refugees arriving in Greece and Italy over two years. But as of March 3, fewer than 700 people had been relocated to other European countries, one of them being Malta.

Then we had the Valletta Summit, and yet more procrastination. And now Greece, with all the internal strife it had to endure, is creaking and buckling under the sheer weight of numbers of people that are trapped  there.

Before the summit yesterday, an estimated 13,000-14,000 people waited at Greece's border with Macedonia hoping desperately to be allowed to cross. The EU is now trying to entice Turkey into stemming the tide and returning economic migrants to their countries of origin by dangling a number of carrots, such as financial aid, fast track EU membership and easing of visa rules.

Greece, on the other hand, is very rightfully demanding that EU member states stick to their end of the bargain in resettling refugees.

"Rules are for all, and everybody has to implement our common decisions," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said. He is right. But how many times did Malta and Italy go through the same problem?

Human rights group Amnesty International hit out at the leaders for using Turkey as a buffer to stop migrants. It is also a known fact, and one of the previous sticking point to Turkey’s desire to join the EU in that its human rights record leaves a lot to be desired. And that is where the ‘not in my backyard’ syndrome comes in. Although human rights abuses were previously cited as a stumbling block to Turkey’s aspirations, it now seems as though it is not a problem.

Effectively, the EU is asking Turkey to deal with stemming the tide at any cost, overlooking reservations it had about the same country due to its human rights record. How is that for double standards?

Turkey, under its international obligations, will also have to give protection to those who are deemed to be genuine refugees. Does the EU not realise that if it fast tracks Turkey’s accession to the EU, those same refugees will have a right to free movement within the bloc? Or will the EU demand a derogation on the matter, stipulating that this will not be allowed to happen.

The more the EU dithers and procrastinates, the more trouble we find ourselves in, in terms of rising nationalism, scepticism about more integrated union and unfortunately, an absolute and systematic lack of solidarity between member states. It really is time for the EU to decide what it is going to do to tackle the issue of migration. Throwing €3 billion in aid to Turkey, telling it to deal with the problem itself is not going to help anyone, least of all genuine refugees who are fleeing from death and persecution.