European Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini has promised that surveillance patrols against illegal immigration off the coast of Malta will this year start earlier than planned.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Frattini said Frontex (the EU border control agency) patrols also involving the Maltese armed forces will start early in summer.
"I can promise you that following last year's experience, Frontex will be conducting much longer and earlier patrols off the coast of Malta. They will be conducted during summer and will involve Malta and other member states.
"We hope this will be a direct contribution by the EU to help Malta face this soaring problem. We have already made sure that more finances and resources are budgeted to Frontex in order to expand its surveillance missions."
Mr Frattini said Malta, together with Spain and Italy, is carrying the biggest brunt of the problem and the Commission is determined to step up its efforts.
"We have already passed legislation to have rapid reaction teams to intervene at the request of member states facing sudden influxes of illegal immigrants. These teams will be deployed by Frontex if the Maltese government feels the need of such expert assistance. We have also started the European Patrols Network, intended to be used as a new tool for sharing intelligence between member states."
Frontex sources told The Times that although the EU patrols off the coast of Malta are expected to start much earlier than last year, they are not planned to commence imminently.
The sources indicated that the planned mission, to be called Nautilus 2, is earmarked to start during the latter part of June, although recent developments may move the planned mission slightly forward.
The sources said Nautilus 2 will be jointly conducted jointly by the AFM and the Greek Navy and coordinated by Frontex. For some reason, neighbouring Italy does not seem to show a lot of interest in participating this year, the sources said.
This year's mission will be the second EU patrol operation on the Mediterranean central route, primarily targeted against the crossing of hundreds of illegal migrants from Libya and other North African countries to the EU borders, particularly Malta, Lampedusa and Sicily.
The first such operation, called Nautilus 1, was held at the beginning of last October. Despite being very short, taking only 15 days, results had been very successful, so much so that no illegal immigrants arrived in Malta during the period of the mission.
Nautilus 1, involved military vessels and aircraft from Malta, Italy, Greece, France and Germany with costs reaching €1.2 million, paid out of EU funds.
Mr Frattini told The Times the budget for Frontex's missions for this year's patrols in the Mediterranean has been boosted to €8 million.
The full interview with Mr Frattini on illegal immigration will be aired during Tuesday's TV programme Tieqa fuq l-Ewropa on Television Malta - an Allied Newspapers production.