Malta was very well represented at a two-day joint meeting in Brussels on migration organised by the European Parliament and the French Senate to get together MEPs and members of Parliament from the 27 EU member states.
Contrary to previous similar occasions when Maltese MPs were conspicuous by their absence, Malta had a four-member delegation including Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, Labour's spokesman for home affairs Michael Falzon and Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia.
The meeting focused on migration and integration polices in Europe although the Maltese delegation focused on one-on-one meetings promoting the island's stance on the need of burden sharing among EU member states.
"We are using these meetings and conferences to spread the word around in favour of Malta's case," Dr Mifsud Bonnici told The Times.
"I am just coming from similar conferences in Kiev and Paris, where I lobbied for Malta's case. We want burden sharing to form part of the EU policy but first we want to make sure that everyone understands our position and our realities.
"There is still some convincing to do."
Dr Falzon said that Malta should seek to persuade its EU partners to help. "It is evident that we can't tackle this problem alone and we want the EU to do more," he said.
Asked whether he believes the government is doing its utmost in diplomatic fora on this issue, Dr Falzon said there is always more that can be done but the issue is being tackled well.
"Obviously, we need to insist more with Frontex on the need to have effective patrols and, at the same time, we need to increase repatriations, although this is not so easy."
During the conference, Dr Busuttil called on the EU to work on a resettlement programme for refugees in its member states.
"I cannot understand how a small country like Malta already has a repatriation programme for refugees with the US and not with the EU.
"We are part of the EU and small countries deserve to be shown effective solidarity," he insisted.