It has been estimated that 100,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean in the first half of 2015. More than 1,800 died attempting the crossing — a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014. This is a humanitarian crisis on the doorstep of Europe that poses enormous challenges for the European Union (EU).
Some politicians have argued that search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean should be stopped because they encourage more migrants to attempt the crossing. The European Commission has put forward a scheme to relocate these migrants across the EU, based on factors including GDP, population and unemployment in the receiving countries. The UK has decided to opt out of this plan. Several eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary are not in favour of such relocation quotas. While the rest of the EU dithers, Italy and Greece are shouldering much of the burden.
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