(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) EU Foreign and Interior ministers in a joint meeting in Luxembourg Monday agreed to implement a 10-point plan on the immediate actions to be taken in response to the crisis situation in the Mediterranean.
"The 10 actions we have agreed upon today are the direct, substantial measures we will take to make an immediate difference. All of these actions require our common effort, the European institutions and the 28 Member States," EU High Representative Federica Mogherini told a press conference after the meeting.
She said the plan will be presented to an extraordinary summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
The special joint meeting was held after as many as 700 African migrants are feared drowned after their packed boat capsized off Libya on Sunday. The tragedy is the latest in a series of mass drownings of African migrants attempting to reach Europe.
Mogherini said the EU is ready to support the Libyan government of national unity with all means, from the humanitarian to the civilian, from borders management to institutional building including through common security and defence policy measures "which might be decided in the moment when we will have a national unity government." On his part, EU Commissioner for home affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos told the joint press conference that "unfortunately, It is neither a new phenomenon nor one that will go away anytime soon. This is the new reality in the Mediterranean. That is why the Commission has set migration as one of its top priorities. The adoption of the European agenda for migration will take place on May 13." The 10-point plans include engagement with countries surrounding Libya, strengthening the Joint Operations in the Mediterranean, namely Triton and Poseidon, effort to capture and destroy vessels used by the smugglers.
It also proposes a new programme for rapid return of irregular migrants and deployment of Immigration Liaison Officers in key third countries, to gather intelligence on migratory flows.
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