EU chief vows to close down migratory route from Libya to Italy

European Council President Donald Tusk on Thursday vowed to close down the central Mediterranean migration route, which links Libya to Italy, to stem the inflow of illegal migrants.

"Now it is time to close down the route from Libya to Italy," Tusk told a press conference after meeting with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Serraj in Brussels.

"I have spoken at length with Italian Prime Minister Gentiloni about it yesterday and I can assure you that it is within our reach," Tusk said.

"What we need is the full determination to do that. We owe it first and foremost to those who suffer and risk their lives. But we also owe it to Italians and all Europeans," he added.

He underlined that the bloc and Libya had a shared interest to reduce the number of irregular migrants risking their lives crossing the central Mediterranean.

"This is not sustainable for Europe, nor for Libya, as the smugglers let people drown and undermine the authority of the Libyan state for their own profit," he said.

How to mange the central Mediterranean route is the top agenda of EU's Valletta summit slated for Friday.

Tusk said he would put forward at the summit "additional concrete and operational measures" to more effectively tackle human trafficking networks and stem the inflow of illegal migrants.

The EU paid more attention to the central Mediterranean route after the figure of asylum seekers nosedived on the eastern Mediterranean route since a EU-Turkey deal took effect last year.

Over 181,000 migrants and refugees, most of whom use Libya as a springboard, arrived to the EU in 2016 through the central Mediterranean route.

As the deadliest route for migrants last year, the central Mediterranean route claimed the lives of 4,576 people, according to the International Organization for Migration. Endit