Mon | Jun 1, 2026

EU could launch anti-trafficking action in coming weeks

Published:Monday | May 18, 2015 | 10:28 AM
AP
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (left), talks with European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini during a meeting with EU defense and foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels yesterday.

EU could launch anti-trafficking

action in coming weeks

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP):

A European Union (EU) naval operation to go after the trafficking networks that send thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe could be launched in the coming weeks with North Atlantic Treaty Organization ready to help out if needed, officials disclosed yesterday.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said she expects a meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers to agree to establish the operation. Once that is done, it will have to find the ships and equipment and work out a proper military plan before action can be taken.

Officials added that some parts of the plan could be enforced independently but that the destruction of boats would need United Nations approval.

The 28-country EU has been under increasing pressure to take action to clamp down on the trafficking networks that's seen thousands die in the waters of the Mediterranean over the past few years.

More than 10,000 people have been picked up alive from the central Mediterranean in recent weeks as they attempted to enter Europe from Libya. The International Organisation for Migration estimates that nearly 1,830 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean this year compared to 207 in the same period last year.

Mogherini said EU nations "can move forward with the planning and possibly launch the operation in the coming weeks" once yesterday's decision is taken. Those weeks coincide with the high season for migrant crossings.