ONE OF the biggest debates online in the UK this week has been whether the current problems in Europe should be described as a 'migrant crisis' or a 'refugee crisis'.

And while such semantics are being discussed, people are dying.

Right across the European Union, of which Britain is a part, people are dying.

Right across the 'rich' parts of the European continent, people are dying.

A week ago, 71 Syrain refugees (or migrants, depending on your viewpoint) were found suffocated to death in a lorry.

On the same day, 200 people attempting to flee Libya died when two boats capsized.

Another 52 people were found dead in a ship's hold off the coast of Libya last Wednesday.

These deaths can be added to the 2,500 who have died attempting to reach Europe so far this year, according to the United Nations.

This crisis is affecting France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Greece and Italy.

Some of these nations - particularly Greece and Italy - are being overwhelmed by the number of people arriving on their shores.

And while we debate what label should be attached to them, people are dying.

Let us make no mistake about this. A human tragedy is unfolding on our doorstep.

There needs to be a coordinated response from European governments to help solve this crisis.

Instead, it seems as though governments - including our own - are more concerned with finding ways to send people back to Syria and Afghanistan than they are with saving lives.

They are more concerned with distinguishing between economic migrants and refugees seeking asylum from war-torn lands than they are with preventing people dying.

This crisis is driven by hugely complicated factors.

It is driven by ruthless people traffickers who see the misery of others as a short cut to their own riches.

It is driven by the rise of medieval fundamentalism in countries like Syria.

It is driven in part by those who are not asylum seekers but, figuratively speaking, hide under the coat-tails of genuine refugees.

It is driven by the aftermath of the war on terror in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, for which we have to accept some responsibility.

This is not a simple issue and I will not pretend it is.

But, as a fundraising Irish pop star once said, nothing is as simple as dying.

The EU is struggling to agree a common policy across member states for dealing with the crisis.

The European Commission, the executive of the EU, is trying to draw up a list of safe countries of origin that failed asylum applicants can be sent back to.

And it is preparing proposals for a mechanism to automatically redistribute a proportion of those seeking asylum among EU states, ahead of a meeting of EU interior and justice ministers on September 14.

In the meantime, finding a way to halt the deaths should be the first priority of every politician in Europe.

Surely there is nothing more important than that?