Members of the European Parliament hold up slogans yesterday. Photo: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

MEPs are calling on the European Commission to set a “binding quota” for the distribution of asylum seekers among EU countries, as they overwhelmingly voted in favour of a resolution agreed between five political groups in the European Parliament.

The resolution, essentially a call for action, followed the outcome of the April 23 European Council meeting held to discuss the migration crisis in the Mediterranean.

The resolution adopted the actions committed by the Council but went further. It called for the provision of the “necessary resources” for search-and-rescue operations and more financial resources for Frontex, the EU border agency.

MEPs yesterday also called for an expansion in the area of responsibility for Triton, the EU’s search-and-rescue operation, as well as the “the strongest possible” criminal sanctions against people smugglers.

Call for strongest possible criminal sanctions against people smugglers

The vote comes as the Commission is set to present a European agenda on migration on May 13. Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the time had come for the EU to move from words to action. “I see a clear solidarity for saving lives,” he said.

The debate saw unusual agreement among political groups on the subject of migration, with the majority of MEPs from different countries calling for concrete and effective action.

The chairman of the largest political group, the European People’s Party, underlined the duty of Europeans to welcome those fleeing from wars. Manfred Weber also insisted there should be more burden-sharing between member states in dealing with refugees.

‘We must go beyond the political slogans’

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola, also of the EPP group, welcomed the commitment to dismantle trafficking networks and stressed again the need to increase search and rescue resources in the Mediterranean.

While saying Europe should explore further the issue of humanitarian visas, she also called for a binding quota for the distribution of asylum seekers among all member states.

“We need to go beyond political slogans and get to the core of the emergency issues facing us…

“We need to send a signal to member states that it’s time for a credible EU-wide binding mechanism for solidarity and a binding quota for the distribution of asylum seekers among all member states. We need a response that has solidarity at its very core,” Dr Metsola said before the vote was taken.

In contrast, Labour MEP Alfred Sant stressed migration in the Mediterranean was no longer just a humanitarian emergency but a security crisis and pushed for the need to blockade ships off Libya.

“People trafficking operations have reached industrial proportions. They will be penetrated, perhaps already are, by extremist elements…Waiting for a unified government [in Libya] before decisive action is taken will contribute to further instabilities and deaths. That now means blockading action outside the coasts of North Africa,” Dr Sant told MEPs.

The focus of some Socialists away from humanitarian solutions led to some MEPs taking a dig at “the hypocrisy of the left”, which traditionally fought for the rights of the poor and marginalised.

They were joined by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said: “We can’t say, ‘We can’t accept all the misery of the world’ – to quote [a] former French socialist prime minister – and say at the same time that we should not care for legal migration. Legal migration is part of the medium-term solution and therefore we must act on it.”

As several MEPs held placards reading ‘Europe’s sinking shame’, PL MEP Marlene Mizzi appeared seated with a sign in front of her reading ‘Je suis un migrant’ (I am a migrant).

Two years ago she had called on the nation to support Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s talk of pushing back migrants.