WITH each day that passes, hopes of finding four-year-old Madeleine McCann alive grow dimmer.

We pray that there may yet be a happy ending to one of the most traumatic stories of 2007 but, whatever the outcome of the investigation, Madeleine's disappearance has sparked an important international debate.

A survey of MEPs, commissioned as part of the campaign to find Madeleine, has shown that there is overwhelming support for an EU-wide sex offenders' register.

There are some things which are so blatantly obvious that it is hard to understand why they have not already been done, and this is one of them.

If nothing else, this heartbreaking case has underlined the need for a sharing of best practice across the police forces of EU countries in dealing with child abduction cases.

Paedophiles operate as part of a highly-organised network which reaches across the world. And for that to be tackled effectively, there needs to be an international approach which enables sex offenders to be monitored as they move around different countries.

An EU-wide sex offenders' register must be introduced without delay, along with steps to create greater consistency in the way these terrible cases are managed.

Along with millions around the world, we hope that Kate and Gerry McCann will one day be reunited with their little girl.

If that does not happen, we hope that they will at least find comfort from knowing that she inspired changes which made other children safer.