Malta's Permanent Representation in Brussels went on a diplomatic blitz across the EU capital yesterday to explain the government's position on the recent political tug-of-war with Italy over immigrants stranded off Lampedusa.

The barrage of meetings included long, one-on-one sessions with high officials from the European Commission and member states, including Italy's Permanent Representation.

This comes ahead of a face-to-face meeting over dinner between Home Affairs Ministers Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Roberto Maroni at the European Commission's headquarters, hosted by Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot.

The immigrants, 140 in all, were rescued by Turkish cargo vessel Pinar E in Malta's search and rescue (SAR) area just off the island of Lampedusa. According to international conventions, the ship had to take the survivors to the nearest safe port of call. Malta stressed this meant they should have been taken to Lampedusa but Italy initially refused and only reversed its decision after a four-day stand-off which ended on Sunday.

During the meetings in Brussels yesterday, the Maltese Permanent Representation gave detailed information about Malta's position and its international SAR obligations.

Ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana said Malta was expecting to be able to clear the air with Italy on the incident and to reaffirm its position on SAR, which has been in place for decades.

"Both Italy and Malta have common interests in this issue and we are looking forward to a positive discussion. We also want to see what the Commission could come up with to help both countries fight illegal immigration in the central Mediterranean region."

But the meeting, a Commission official noted, would not focus on the Pinar case alone.

"The Pinar incident is only one item on the agenda. Mr Barrot has also already indicated to both Italy and Malta that he would like to discuss illegal immigration in general, the relations with Libya and the EU's role, burden sharing and the EU immigration pact and the ongoing discussions about the next Frontex mission, which had to be launched last month in the Sicily-Malta-Libya strait."

The fate of the Pinar immigrants was not the only disagreement between Malta and Italy on illegal immigration as this year's Frontex anti-migration patrol mission had to be put on hold due to discord between Valletta and Rome on the rules of engagement of the mission.

Italy is saying all illegal immigrants saved by the Frontex mission, normally taking place outside Malta's SAR area, should be taken to Malta as the host country of this mission. But Malta is insisting that, even in this case, international maritime rules should prevail and illegal immigrants picked up at sea should be taken to the closest safe port.

Nautilus IV, as the Frontex operation is nicknamed, had to start in March. However, the disagreement between Italy and Malta forced Frontex to postpone indefinitely the launch of the €10 million mission.