Barroso visited the refugee centre and the hangar at the airport where the coffins are being stored.
Barroso was travelling with the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem, who urged EU states to beef up the Frontex border guard service to mount “a big search and rescue” operation across the Mediterranean in the short term.
Longer-term, she said, there should be more action in countries of origin and transit for asylum seekers and an easing of tough migration rules.
“We do need to open ways for more regular migration,” she said, giving as an example the possibility of “humanitarian visas” and requesting asylum outside European Union territory.
“We need to change our policy on immigration, this restrictive approach has shown its limits.”
Frontex has been hit by budget cuts and Gill Arias, its deputy head, was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying that the agency had already used up all its funds for 2013.
Italy also wants a change in EU rules that force migrants to remain in the country where they first arrive while their asylum application is being processed, saying this puts an unfair burden on crisis-hit countries of southern Europe.
But northern European states are opposed and say they do their share by taking in more refugees than southern Europe once asylum is granted.
Malmstroem said Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Sweden last year took in 70 percent of refugees, adding that other states should do more.
Barroso like Malmstroem spoke of the sight of the coffins saying: “I have seen a lot of tragedies in the world but this should not happen in Europe.”
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