Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi said Rome would be seeking the extraordinary
meeting after up to 700 people were feared to have drowned when a boat
carrying them towards Italy capsized off Libya.
"We
are working to ensure this meeting can be held by the end of the week.
It has to be a priority," Renzi told a press conference, describing the
people smuggling behind the migrant crisis as "scourge" that Europe had
to address.
The Italian
initiative came as the EU came under fire over what NGOs termed a
tragedy that may have been avoided if Italy had maintained its
large-scale search-and-rescue operation off its southern shores.
The
Mare Nostrum mission was suspended at the end of last year after
Italy's EU partners refused to help with the ongoing cost of running it
amid a bitter row over whether the life-saving operation was
unintentionally encouraging migrants and asylum-seekers to attempt the
perilous crossing from north Africa to Europe.
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