Yahoo – AFP,
20 April 2015
Luxembourg
(AFP) - The EU unveiled a 10-point action plan Monday to stem the tide of
migrants crossing the Mediterranean after the latest disastrous loss of life,
promising to step up both control and rescue operations.
The
European Commission said the plan, approved by EU foreign and interior
ministers at an emergency meeting in Luxembourg, will be submitted to a summit
Thursday as the 28-member bloc tries to halt a growing death toll off its
southern shores.
European
Union foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said the plan reflected a
determination to respond after the sinking Sunday of a boat carrying perhaps
700 migrants and reports of other vessels being in trouble.
EU foreign
affairs head Federica Mogherini
gives a joint press conference during an
emergency meeting in Luxembourg on
April 20, 2015 (AFP Photo/John Thys)
|
"The
dire situation in the Mediterranean is not a new nor a passing reality,"
she added.
The
10-point plan calls first for the current Triton maritime frontier mission to
be stepped up, both in funding and resources so it can cover a wider issue.
Triton
replaced Italy's own Mare Nostrum mission which Rome scrapped late last year in
protest that its EU partners did not share the burden of the cost.
The EU will
also try to capture or destroy people smuggler boats and increase cooperation
across the board, the Commission said.
The bloc
will offer too a "voluntary pilot project on resettlement, offering a
number of places to persons in need of protection," a key but small step
forward in spreading out the problem.
Diplomats
said this could cover 5,000 places but the Commission statement gave no figure.
Additionally,
the EU will "establish a new return programme for rapid return of
irregular migrants."
It will
also step up cooperation efforts with neighbours of war-torn Libya, the
epicentre of the problem, the statement said.
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