EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot urged European nations Monday to help partners like Malta and Italy confront a wave of illegal immigration, after scores of boat people arrived in Sicily."Certain (EU) states not so exposed to these migrations must be able to help share part of the burden a little by accepting migrants who have obtained refugee status," he told reporters in Brussels.
"It's a difficult task given the current crisis. It's not easy to convince governments to accept to share, but we must get there in the end," Barrot said...

Both countries are grappling with a sharp spike in unauthorised immigration from outside the European Union, with 36,900 arriving in Italy last year -- a 75 percent increase from 2007 -- and a record 2,775 landing in Malta..

"I understand the concerns of the two countries," he said. "The Maltese are in an impossible situation because the size of their territory is limited. Other European countries must understand the gravity of the problem."
This is the common EU asylum and immigration policy that was suggested in Scandinavia last month. There is no directive yet. I believe the suggestion works like this- say an illegal or asylum seeker from country X finds himself in the EU, but that member state declares it has no resources to deal with, the illegal/asylum seeker can get punted over to a member state that can deal with, and they get to stay there.

An ever closer union