EU to launch human trafficking plan

Foreign and interior ministers from the European Union (EU) agreed on Monday in an emergency meeting in Luxembourg to launch a 10-point action plan on migration and human trafficking.

This decision follows recent events in the Mediterranean that left estimated 700 dead after a boat sank before the Lybian coast on Saturday.

Read more: EU in talks over migrant drownings in Mediterranean

The EU ministers agreed to reinforce the Frontex borders agency mission, increasing its funding and extending its zone of patrolling. In addition, the Triton naval mission will be given a broader search-and-rescue mandate in order to save lives.

We need to act fast and act together

"Today, we gave a strong EU reaction to the tragedies we have seen in the last few days. We need to act fast and act together," said EU's representative for foreign affairs and security policy Federica Mogherini

The European Council also proposed an EU-wide voluntary pilot project on resettlement, "offering a number of places to persons in need of protection”.

The bloc has agreed to enhance support for countries on the front line, and as a consequence, measures will be adopted to fight against migrant smugglers in countries like Niger, Egypt or Tunisia. The ministers called on these countries to close down migratory routes.

In addition, a military operation could be launched in Libya once the national unity government is settled. EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos pointed out that this would be a “civil-military” operation modelled on the previous anti-piracy operation developed in the Horn of Africa.

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, announced on Monday that a extraordinary summit of the 28 EU leaders will take place in Brussels on Thursday in order to discuss migratory pressures in the Mediterranean and to detail further actions of the agreed measures.

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