Updated 3.35 p.m.
The Civil Liberties committee of the European Parliament this afternoon held a preliminary discussion on a European Commission proposal for a regulation on the operational rules of Frontex, the EU borders agency, including giving officials the authority to turn back migrant boats which are not in distress.
The document also sees a return of the controversy over whether migrants in distress should be taken to the nearest port or the country hosting the Frontex mission.
The push-back rules have been criticised in some quarters as violating human rights, particularly the right to seek asylum.
That point remained the focus of today's short discussion.
The European Commission is proposing that, unless the migrants are in distress, boats may be prevented from entering European waters and escorted to their point of departure.
Officials will be required to first assess the condition of the people on board. Consideration should be taken of the human rights situation at the port of departure. An MEP who took part in the discussion today argued that no proper assessment of the migrants could be made at sea.
Regulations adopted in 2010 already gave Frontex that authority, but the European Court of Justice annulled them last year because they had lacked the necessary European Parliament scrutiny.
The proposal provides that: "As regards interception in the territorial sea or in the contiguous zone, disembarkation takes place in the coastal member state.
"As regards interception on the high seas, subject to guaranteeing the protection of fundamental rights and the principle of non-refoulement, disembarkation may take place in the third country from which the ship departed."
Controversially for Malta, the proposals also says that: "If this is not possible, then disembarkation takes place in the host member state."
When the proposal was first made two years ago, Malta objected and stopped hosting Frontex missions, arguing that migrants should be taken to the nearest safe port and not necessarily the country hosting the Frontex mission.
Elsewhere, the regulation says that “In the case of search and rescue situations …the participating units shall cooperate with the responsible rescue Coordination Centre to provide a suitable port or place of safety for the rescued persons and to ensure their rapid and effective disembarkation.
“Without prejudice to the responsibility of the Rescue Coordination Centre, the host member state and the participating member states shall, as soon as possible, ensure that a port or place of safety is identified, taking into account relevant factors such as distances to the closest ports or places of safety risks and the circumstances of the case.
"Where the participating unit is not released of its obligation….as soon as reasonably practicable, taking into account the safety of the rescued persons and that of the participating unit itself, it shall be authorized to disembark the rescued persons in the host member state."
The point was not raised during today's discussion and no Maltese MEP took part.