EU parliament chief attacks 'cynical' states

The "glaring failures" of some European countries to take in refugees are turning the Mediterranean into a mass grave and creating gruesome scenes at borders, the head of the European Parliament has said.

Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, said those European governments that have resisted European Union proposals to agree a common plan must do more to deal with the crisis, which is intensifying due to a surge in migrants fleeing war and poverty.

The International Organisation for Migration estimates a third of a million people have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year to wash up in southern Europe.

“We are not dealing with a failure of the EU, but rather with a glaring failure of some governments, who don't want to take responsibility and thereby impede a joint European solution," Schulz told Germany's Die Welt newspaper.