THE BORDERS OF EUROPE'S VISION.

This week's report on migration from the southern and eastern Mediterranean is doubly interesting in light of the European Union's struggle to respond to events on the outskirts of Ceuta and Melilla.

It is a worthy first attempt to put some figures on a phenomenon which, despite the heat the subject often generates, is still poorly documented.

In addition, although it frankly admits that the current statistical base is far from comprehensive, the report offers some valuable context for the European policy debates now underway.

For instance, it points out that only half of all emigration from the region is bound for Europe, and the total now living in the member states is around only 6 million. Moreover, what little data it offers on illegal immigration suggests that fears of Europe being swamped from across the Straits of Gibraltar or via the Levant are wildly exaggerated.

Of itself, this will do little to ease the immediate plight of Sub-Saharan migrants risking their lives to cross to Europe in unseaworthy smugglers' launches, or over the razor-wire into Europe's last African toehold, the Spanish enclaves in Morocco.

Nor is the report likely to instantly steel the nerves of Europe's election-sensitive politicians so they no longer duck the question that Europe will sooner or later have to answer: is it to resign itself to becoming a fortress increasingly under siege from east and south, or can it stimulate radical international...