EP President Martin Schulz this afternoon called for a new migration policy as he addressed a two-day summit of EU heads of government in Brussels.

After going through its pre-set agenda, the summit immediately embarked on the irregular immigration debate with Mr Schulz saying he had met the mayor of Lampedusa and was impressed to see that an island of 6,000 inhabitants had to accommodate 10,000 immigrants.

"This is a catastrophe for the island, but if you look at the scale of things, these 10,000 could be accommodated in Europe in general.

"We have to think of a new migration policy."

He spoke on the need for more flexibility in the Dublin system (which regulates migrant movements in Europe) and appealed to the Commission to take more initiatives.

Malta is being represented by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. On his arrival he said it was surreal that in view of the recent deaths in the Mediterranean, the European Union was starting off by discussing the digital economy.

He said that until now there had been a lot of talk in the EU, but little action. 

"Instead of the usual line in the draft summit conclusions we now have a paragraph,” he said sarcastically.