The mass movement of refugees across Europe has reached boiling point, with photos of dead toddlers and stranded families across the continent dominating the headlines. Ivan Martin asks whether an upcoming emergency EU summit can stem the crisis.

Europe is facing its biggest refugee crisis since World War II and the scenes dominating the headlines in the past week clearly show an unprepared EU, with evident fractures appearing at a political level.

Thousands of migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean. Photo: MOAS

Police closed train stations across Hungary after thousands stormed trains and blocked tracks. Eurostar passengers travelling from France to England were also left stranded as migrants flooded carriages. Traffickers in Austria tried to stow away would-be refugees on a delivery van with disastrous consequences.

Italy, Germany, France and Malta, among others, are seeking a united response to the worsening plight of millions of refugees, fleeing from war and oppression in countries like Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. But countries like Hungary are insisting on a hardline approach, capitalising on anti-migrant sentiments.

Yet, the picture of the lifeless body of three-year-old Ayan Kurdi, a Syrian who was trying to get into Europe, appeared to cause a dramatic change in public sentiment towards refugees’ plight.

Building walls and laying barbed wire is not a solution

The way Europe is addressing the matter needs to change drastically, according to Mark Micallef, the editor of Migrant Report, a Malta-based NGO gathering migration data.

He said the central Mediterranean route, from Libya to Italy, normally described as the most dangerous way to Europe, has been overshadowed by Greece, a relative newcomer.

Since last Monday, Greece received more than 235,000 migrants, mostly Syrians, double the number arriving in Italy – once the most heavily impacted Mediterranean country.

“We’re talking about a 750 per cent increase over last year in Greece alone. There is no question that this is a huge spike,” Mr Micallef said, describing the East Mediterranean as “the new central Mediterranean”.

Greece, however, is not the only treacherous frontier on Europe’s borders. News headlines in the past week were dominated with scenes of hundreds of migrants left stranded outside Budapest’s main railway station after being barred from travelling to Germany.

Aylan Kurdi and his brother, Galip, who also died.

In response to all this, the EU has called an emergency summit, to be held in Brussels on September 14. Home Affairs ministers are expected to discuss methods to relocate migrants as well as ways to tackle human smuggling networks – a year’s long debate which is yet to yield any results.

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola expressed scepticism, saying: “We have been here before. Any meeting that does not emerge with a concrete result of shared political will and responsibility would not be doing enough. Anything less and Europe would have failed to live up to its own standards,” she said.

The last emergency meeting called by EU leaders on the migration crisis in April, saw plans to tackle smugglers by “breaking” their network. However, the plan of attack remains very much in its infancy.

With no concrete action on the horizon, Labour MEP Miriam Dalli said she had expected the emergency summit to be called earlier.

“Action needs to be taken immediately, because people are dying and they have been dying for far too long,” she said.

The problems being discussed today were the same discussed back in October 2013 when more than 400 people died near Lampedusa and again last April when more than 800 people died on route to Italy, she added.

“After these tragedies, some European leaders bickered for months while doing very little to resolve this crisis, which is once again with us,” Dr Dalli said.

However, it appears that some European leaders are now willing to push for fundamental change in the way they are handling this issue, Dr Dalli added.

She wants to see a common migration policy developed, which consolidates the different approaches used in the 28 member states.

This girl was rescued last Wednesday. Photo: MOAS

What is likely to come out of the summit?

EU migration policy analyst Aalt Diederik said the stage was set for a discussion on what he described as the elephant in the room: relocation regulations.

“We can talk about different ways of tackling migration but what is clear is that it is really important to resolve problems faced when it comes to relocating migrants,” he said.

His views were shared by Mr Micallef who believes the summit will likely see discussions focused on the contentious Dublin regulation, a rule which forces migrants to apply for refugee status in the first country which receives them.

“Some member states seem ready to have a discussion on this. They will probably haggle over Dublin regulations. The UK and some Eastern States will have a problem with it. What kind of compromise will come out of it is anyone’s guess,” he said.

Jon Hoisaeter, the head of the UN refugee agency in Malta said there would be no solution unless countries moved beyond what had been done so far.

“States have a pressing urgency to act now. Building walls and laying barbed wire is not a solution,” he said.

Mr Hoisaeter said people had every right to be sceptical of European politicians’ ability to resolve the issue, but he still had a glimmer of hope that the “dire” situation would prompt “bold decision taking”.