BRUSSELS,
April 23 (Xinhua) -- European leaders agreed to reinforce the Joint Operations
in the Mediterranean by increasing the financial resources at the extraordinary
summit on migratory pressures on Thursday.
European
Council President Donald Tusk told a press conference that "we have agreed
to triple the resources available to Triton border mission to enhance its
operation capability."
The Triton
operation is a migrant search and rescue mission run by the European Union (EU)
's justice and home affairs agency Frontex.
European
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the funding for the Triton
operation will be increased to 120 million euros (130 million U.S. dollars).
"Given
the instability in Libya creates an environment for the criminal activities of
traffickers," according to an EU statement, European leaders also decided
to step up cooperation against smuggling networks, through Frontex and by
deploying immigration officers to the third countries.
Only 28
migrants out of 700 have survived by far after their boat capsized some 130
miles (209 km) south of Lampedusa, Italy, last Saturday night.
This
disaster follows another similar tragedy which took place a week earlier,
during which more than 400 migrants drowned after their vessel sank off the
Libyan coast.
In response
to the deaths of thousands of people in the Mediterranean, the institutions of
the EU and member states have been called on to take the necessary humanitarian
actions and political decisions.
Martin
Schulz, President of the European Parliament, called for an EU migration policy
in his Preliminary remarks. However, "there is no such thing as an EU
migration policy. We have a patchwork of 28 different national systems,"
Schulz said.
"The
lack of a truly European asylum and migration policy is now turning the
Mediterranean into a graveyard," said he.
Meanwhile,
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday said he was confident in the
new European Union (EU)'s commitment on the migrant crisis at the extraordinary
summit.
"I am
optimistic on the fact that we can bring home the sign that something has
finally changed in Europe ... I believe I can say there are all the conditions
for a change," Renzi was quoted by Italian media as saying.
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