A new EU proposal looks to ease the migration burden on frontline states like Malta and finally move towards a more formal approach when dealing with the ever-growing crisis.

“I think that we should focus on how we can manage migration in an orderly way and I think that’s what European citizens ask from us,”EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said.

Ahead of its unveiling in Brussels, Johansson warned migrants are paying the highest price every day the bloc doesn’t have a common asylum system, and that it can’t afford to see “more Moiras”, referring to an overcrowded refugee camp in Lesbos recently destroyed by a blaze.

She explained that extreme right voices have been given too much space in the debate on the hot issue. Hungary and Poland were singled out as holding resistance to any kind of migrant burden-sharing.

Prime Minister Robert Abela is notably vocal about the migrant crisis. Just last week he insisted that Malta is “full up”, with roughly 1% of the population are irregular migrants.

As of June, there were 1,490 people residing in Malta’s open centres, 1,653 in the detention centres and 321 in the initial reception centre in Marsa.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,699 people were rescued at sea and disembarked in Malta in the first six months of 2020, a figure that jumps last year’s numbers by more than a third.

Just last week, 70 migrants seeking refuge in Europe jumped overboard while waiting for permission for disembarking.

The Italian coast guard has transferred two pregnant women, and one of their husbands, on to dry land for medical assistance while the rest remain on board.

Open Arms, a Spanish charity, said that the people grew desperate after repeated refusals for disembarkation in Malta.

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