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PMs Renzi, Muscat ask EU to take action against migrant traffickers in Mediterranean

Xinhua, April 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his Maltese counterpart Joseph Muscat called for a common European Union (EU) action on Monday to target traffickers organizing the illegal travel of migrants from Libya.

The two prime ministers held urgent talks here following the latest shipwreck of a boat carrying migrants across the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday night, in which 700 to 950 people are feared dead. Renzi ruled out the possibility of a military intervention in Libya, underlining "the hypothesis of a military intervention is not on the table."

"We think about specific actions aimed at destroying this criminal racket of human beings, which is currently out of control," Renzi said a press conference after the meeting.

Both PMs agreed the most urgent priority would be for the EU and the international community to take action against the criminals running the migrant routes, and on the need to secure Libya's borders.

"We are facing a serious humanitarian crisis, which needs to be addressed on the basis of the humanitarian international law, and with a solid response from the international community," Renzi said.

Muscat said now was the time for the EU to "act as a team."

"If a small country like Malta is doing its part in this emergency, as much as Italy does, then Europe has to act to not let these criminals get away with it," he pointed out.

If the latest accounts of more that 900 migrants being onboard the capsized boat was confirmed, whoever was behind that trip earned 1 million to 1.5 million euros (about 1.08 to 1.65 million U.S. dollars), Muscat stressed.

Both Renzi and Muscat urged the international community "to consider a top priority the need to ensure these criminals to justice."

Their remarks came as EU foreign and interior ministers were due to hold urgent talks in Luxembourg to discuss how to respond to the increasing tragedies involving migrant boats in the Mediterranean.

On Monday morning, both prime ministers also held phone talks with several European leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, they confirmed.

"In the next hours, the EU Council could show this is not just a problem of Italy and Malta," Renzi told reporters.

He also compared the current emergency to a new slave trade run by modern slavers.

"We are not using these words carelessly: today's situation mirrors that of three to four centuries ago, when people on Western African coasts could make money by trafficking in human beings."

Up to 950 migrants are feared to have drowned after their boat capsized some 200 km south of the tiny island of Lampedusa in Sicily.

A first estimate of 700 deaths was increased on Monday after Italian authorities managed to gather preliminary evidence from the few people who survived.

Despite a frantic search-and-rescue operation by the Italian coast guard and navy along with Maltese navy and merchant ships, only 28 people were rescued and 24 bodies were recovered, Italy confirmed on Monday. Endit