The European Commission says 49 migrants stranded on two NGO boats off the Maltese coast since last month have yet to be helped by EU states - because of another 249 people recently rescued by the island-nation's navy.
Paraskevi Michou, who leads the commission's migration department, told MEPs on Monday (7 January) that nothing has happened because the 249 rescues "makes the calculation bigger".
Her comments follow a meeting on the same day with EU states in Brussels in an effort...
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.