Figures compiled by the International Organisation for Migration show that, as of last Thursday, the Italian Coast Guard, the Italian Navy and commercial ships have come to the rescue of about 10,000 migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean this year.
In 2014, some 219,000 people made the crossing, according to the UN refugee agency - and at least 3,500 lives were lost.
Many of those who reach Europe’s southern shores apply for asylum on arrival.
Asylum regimes differ from country to country, but as a general rule asylum is granted to people who can demonstrate they are fleeing persecution or serious harm and are in need of international protection.
Geneva Convention
Granting asylum to those who need it is an obligation, first recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees.
Inward flows vary from year to year, and they are not evenly distributed across EU states.
For example, the figure fell from a peak of 425,000 applications across the then 27 member-states of the bloc in 2001 to fewer than 200,000 in 2006 before rising again, to 336,000, in 2012.
Germany received the largest share of asylum applications (29 per cent) in the EU in 2013, according to Eurostat, followed by France (15 per cent), Sweden (12 per cent) and the UK (7 per cent).
Under EU rules, an asylum seeker has a right to food, first aid and shelter in a reception centre.
Each applicant’s fingerprints are taken and sent to a database called Eurodac, which helps national authorities identify the country responsible for the asylum application.
The asylum seeker is interviewed by a case worker trained in EU law, with the help of an interpreter, to determine whether he/she may qualify for refugee status or subsidiary protection.
Labour market
If the individual is granted either of these statuses, he/she gains certain rights, such as access to the labour market, healthcare and a residence permit.
If asylum is not granted “at first instance”, the refusal can be appealed in court. Confirmation of the initial refusal means the applicant may be returned to the country of origin or transit.
The European Commission believes there is still too much variation in the way EU states handle asylum claims. Its "Dublin regulations" are an attempt to avoid the situation of asylum seekers being sent from one country to another without states taking responsibility for their application.
They also aim to prevent abuse of the system by individuals submitting several applications in different states.
The regulations do not mean an asylum seeker must in all cases seek refugee status in the EU state in which they first land.
Rather, they set out a list of criteria that help the authorities to establish which country is responsible for each asylum seeker.
Family links
Top of the list of criteria is family links. “If the applicant is not already in the county deemed responsible, the regulations set out procedures to follow to arrange their transfer to that country,” according to the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
“They also allow for discretionary transfers, where States agree, in order to unite family members.”
So, if a young asylum seeker arrives in Italy but then moves on to France because his parents live there, he may be permitted to apply for asylum in France.
Some countries are not deemed suitable for returnees.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that asylum seekers should not be sent back to Greece because of deficiencies in that country's asylum system.
In a separate case, the European Court of Justice said states have an obligation not to transfer asylum-seekers to other member states where they would face inhuman or degrading treatment.
