The European Commission yesterday steered clear of pointing fingers at either Italy or Malta over who should have hosted the 140 illegal immigrants stranded on the cargo vessel Pinar E off the coast of Lampedusa last weekend.
However, Brussels warned both countries they should expect "no miracle" solution to this immigration problem.
Italy said it was taking the immigrants strictly for humanitarian reasons and yesterday it again accused Malta of not carrying its full responsibilities in its extensive Search and Rescue Area (SAR).
Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni is today expected to send a memo to the EU for urgent discussion, while Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is next week expected to raise the incident at a meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg.
The Italians want the EU to intervene and establish who is responsible for what in similar incidents which could crop up in the coming illegal immigration season.
The signals coming out of the EU yesterday, however, were that this is unlikely to happen.
Malta and Italy are interpreting International Maritime Organisation conventions differently. While Italy argues that Malta is responsible to host all illegal immigrants found in its SAR area, which includes the seas off Lampedusa, Malta insists it is only responsible for coordination in distress calls and that immigrants picked up at sea should be taken to the closest safe port of call.
While expressing its satisfaction that the 140 illegal immigrants were now sheltered in Italy, the European Commission yesterday did not want to comment on whether Italy or Malta was right.
Commenting officially on this incident, the Commission's main spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said: "The Commission expresses its appreciation for the actions of the ship's crew that took the responsibility and regrets that the migrants could not be disembarked sooner."
When pressed to confirm Italian media reports that Commission President José Manuel Barroso had called on Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Sunday to take responsibility of the migrants, Mr Laitenberger refused to reply.
"In terms of who is responsible for what, I don't think the Commission is going to enter into any kind of blame game. We are pleased a humanitarian solution was found," he said.
"We recognise that Italy and Malta had a problem as there are literally thousands of migrants being found in distress at sea and this is a big challenge to both countries.
"We have been working with Italy and Malta not only on immediate humanitarian solutions but on more structural solutions to address this problem," he added.
The Times is informed that contrary to what the Italian Foreign Ministry claimed on Sunday evening, Mr Barroso did not speak to the Prime Minister but only made contact yesterday afternoon; a fact confirmed by Dr Gonzi in Parliament.
A senior government official told The Times: "On Sunday, Dr Gonzi only discussed the issue with the Italian Prime Minister. There were contacts between government officials and Mr Barroso's office but Dr Gonzi and Mr Barroso did not speak directly. It is also untrue that the Commission called on Malta to take the immigrants."
EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot appealed for more solidarity between EU member states over illegal immigration. He said this problem was not just Italy's and Malta's but of the entire EU.
Although he made sure not to blame any of the two countries, he did say that the closest port to this drama was Lampedusa and warned that last Sunday's intervention by Italy was not a final solution in itself.
"International law is not easily interpreted although it is well defined. The rules state that who is saved at sea has to be taken to the closest safe port but only if the conditions are appropriate," he said.
"Now it is true that the closet port in this case was Lampedusa. However, the Italian authorities said this was not a safe port as the reception facilities for immigrants over there were full. The same was said by the Maltese authorities.
"At the same time, I have to say I've been to Malta recently and I must recognise that the island is very limited due to its size. How can the Maltese take more immigrants?" Mr Barrot argued.
Although Italian authorities were calling on the EU to clear this interpretation issue of international maritime laws, Mr Barrot's spokesman said the Commission had no competence in this area as this was regulated by the IMO.
Mr Frattini yesterday said the EU should intervene and come up with a specific directive to ensure there was no different interpretation.
However, the Commission's spokesman said Brussels had no intention of doing so as it considered international conventions to be superior to EU directives.
"I don't think we should expect miracle solutions to a problem which is massive and involves all the Mediterranean countries. Most probably it will also become worse as the weather improves," the spokesman said.
"There are international conventions which apply to SAR areas. However, this is not just a question of who is in the right or in the wrong. We definitely need more solidarity among all member states," he added.