The year 2015 could see record migrant flows into Europe, according to the EU borders chief, and that is spotlighting a tricky dilemma for Europe. While migration may offer a benefit to the economy, it is a bane for politicians.

Europe must give refuge where it is needed. That is one argument. The other is that it is a burden too big to bear. The debate more acute as the flow of migrants threatens to become a torrent. Europe's borders chief Fabrice Leggeri of Frontex said, ‘We, we have to get ready and when I say 'we' it's of course Frontex, but also the member states. We have to be prepared to face a very difficult year.’

Italy is on the front line of a battle. To not only control the flow of illegal migration, but to save its victims. Over a hundred thousand migrants were plucked to safety from the Mediterranean last year. Over three thousand perished. With many fleeing armed conflict back home, it makes Europe's dilemma even more acute.

Forex.com research director, Kathleen Brooks said, ‘The fact that a lot of these immigrants are illegal suggests that maybe some of these structures around immigration into the EU aren't working correctly, and that they need to formalise them a little bit more. There are obviously plenty of risks around immigrants and terrorism and things like that, but at the end of the day, from a purely economic perspective, people coming into Europe, working, feeding into the tax take, for those countries is a really good thing.’

The other major route into Europe is via the Balkans. There has been a steep rise in Kosovo citizens seeking better in Germany. Most travel through Serbia and on to Hungary - if they can evade Serbian patrols now assisted by manpower and equipment from Germany. The influx has heightened rhetoric from right-wing extremist parties across Europe - many talking of an ‘enemy within’. Although in Europe too the debate could be confused after the recent shootings in France and Denmark.

Kathleen Brooks said: ‘People leaving these war-torn countries are willing to risk their lives. They're the desperate ones, they're not often the terrorists. And what we've seen in Denmark but also France and here in the UK is that terrorists are home-grown, they're not necessarily an immigration problem.’

At least five and a half thousand migrants have journeyed into Europe since the start of the year, according to Frontex. With the numbers of those drowning in the Mediterranean are already running into many hundreds.