Malta today appealed to European states to show solidarity with Malta as the pilot project seeing countries resettling refugees from Malta entered another phase.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi thanked states which already committed to resettling more than 350 refugees from Malta and appealed to European leaders to shoulder the burden with Malta.

Addressing journalists following the conclusion of the two-day European Council summit in Brussels, bringing the Hungarian presidency to an end and paving the way for the new Polish presidency of the EU, Dr Gonzi said Malta was looking forward to having more states accepting to resettle migrants from Malta.

Malta, he said, needed help in dealing with this phenomenon and this was why he appealed for more participation.

Migration and the situation in the southern Mediterranean region, especially Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, were among today's main topics.

Dr Gonzi reiterated Malta's position that the Libyan Transitional National Council was the only interlocutor of the Libyan population and that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's government was illegitimate and had to go.

Greece was also high on the agenda but not leaders were now looking at the Tuesday vote by the Greek parliament on parameters for the new bailout.

Dr Gonzi reiterated that Malta was willing to contribute so long as there were all the right conditions for this to happen at a European level.

Malta has already contributed €39.8 million of the €78 million it made available to Greece. Another tranche of €5.87 million is expected to be transferred in July but this depended on Tuesday's vote.

In the official conclusion document, the European Commission said member states had made good progress in defining action to attain the headline targets and goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy for jobs and sustainable growth.

The leaders also discussed Croatia's EU membership and approved the appointment of Italian Mario Draghi as the next president of the European Central Bank, succeeding Jean Claude Trichet.