The Belgian migration minister has blasted EU efforts to save drowning migrants in the Mediterranean as 'lunacy', saying it only encourages more to come.

Theo Francken said Belgium should withdraw its frigate from a mission to disrupt Libyan people-smuggling rings because it is often used to help save those pushed out to sea in rickety boats in the hopes of making it to Europe.

Mr Francken said 'this is not about whether we should save them or not', but said doing so creates a perverse incentive for more to come, leading to more deaths.

Theo Francken, Belgium's migration minister, has said rescuing migrants from the Mediterranean is 'lunacy' and simply encourages more people to come

Speaking to Belgian broadcaster VTM, he said: 'I personally think this operation should not be repeated because it is pure lunacy. There is no logic to it.'

'It is not about whether we should save them or not. We should. But this creates an effect of drawing in migrants with more dead people as a result.

'It is a shame on Europe,' Francken added.

The minister has previously been critical of private groups and NGOs who send vessels to the Mediterranean in order to help bring migrants ashore.

In the first six months of 2017, some 85,000 people arrived on Italy's southern shores, a fifth more than in the same period last year, EU border agency Frontex said earlier this month.

In the first six months of this year, 85,000 people were brought to Italy after being rescued from the Mediterranean (file image)

Nationals of Nigeria, Bangladesh and Ivory Coast, which have a low likelyhood of being recognised as asylum seekers in Europe, represented the highest number of arrivals, Frontex added.

That led Italy's EU ambassador, Maurizio Massari, to raise the prospect of closing the country's ports to such vessels unless the rest of the bloc does more to help share the burden of new arrivals.

A spokeswoman for the Belgian defence ministry said the country would continue to be part of the mission only if the Libyan government allowed EU vessels inside its waters, as foreseen in phase two of the EU operation.