The independence of Frontex's monitoring system to make sure people are treated humanely when they are forcibly returned is in question. Efforts by some national authorities are underway to create a more credible parallel system based on transparency and scrutiny.

EU interior ministers will discuss plans, cooked up by Germany, France, Italy, Malta and Finland, to redistribute migrants stranded at sea. The devil will be in the details.

The interior ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and Malta are meeting on Monday to discuss a new temporary and voluntary agreement for the relocation of asylum seekers, that will prevent EU countries from negotiating case-by-case.

French president Emmanuel Macron is pressing for an automated distribution of rescued migrants at sea - but also stands accused of tightening asylum rules in his own country as a response to the far-right.

The upcoming European Commission has shuffled migration policy into a euphemistic new "Protecting our European Way of Life" European commissioner portfolio, headed by former spokesman Margartis Schinas. Some MEPs are not happy.

Germany's chancellor says she is contact with Turkey over an EU deal to stop refugees from landing on Greek islands. But the arrival of over 500 in one day, amid grim conditions, piles on pressure.

Another 40 people perished off the Libyan coast on Tuesday, as EU politics puts halt to search and rescue operations.

If confrontations gain pace between Brussels and Rome, let alone with Berlin and Paris, they could cause political radicalisation and eurozone instability.

Women, such as Adaura, who escape traffickers and return to Nigeria face fresh trauma and abuses, but the EU does too little to help.

Open Arms may face a fine of up to €901,000 for doing "search and rescue" without authorisation, but rescuing people who are shipwrecked is a legal duty, the NGO says.

Only nation states can take legal action against each other on migration, the EU commission has said, after Spain urged the EU to make Italy accountable for push-backs.

No EU country willing to open its ports for the Spanish rescue ship Open Arms, with France and others turning to the European Commission for help.

The US department of defence warns that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is working on a come back in Syria. It is regrouping and supporting activities. This might trigger a new refugee displacement to Europe.

The fragmented new Europen Parliament does not necessarily foretell paralysis in future EU work on migration and asylum. It is however likely that any new initiatives to be tabled over the next five years might require increasingly-longer gestation cycles.