In a frank admission, European Parliament president Martin Schulz this afternoon said member states had no appetite to change the Dublin II regulations on immigration.

However, the former leader of the European Socialists said the European Parliament will not give up asking for changes to be made to the regulations.

"The European Parliament believes that the EU needs to have common rules on immigration... Sooner or later Europe must understand that not every problem can be solved within the Dublin II regulations," he insisted.

Mr Schulz was answering questions at a press briefing in Brussels as heads of government gathered for the Lithuanian presidency's end-of-term summit.

The Dublin II rules state that migrants remain the responsibility of the country that first processed their application, which prevents relocation to other member states. Malta and Italy want fellow member states to share the immigration burden but have faced reluctance mostly from northern European countries.

Mr Schulz said member states first had to realize there was an immigration problem and work towards common rules that included quotas for each country.

Immigration will be on the summit's agenda tomorrow.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com