{"id":110782,"date":"2015-04-23T07:46:19","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T07:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=110782"},"modified":"2015-04-23T07:46:19","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T07:46:19","slug":"eu-to-hold-emergency-migrant-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/04\/eu-to-hold-emergency-migrant-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"EU to hold emergency migrant summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
EU leaders are due to hold an emergency summit on ways to stem the number of people risking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
Draft proposals for the meeting include offering 5,000 places for resettlement for migrants “qualifying for protection” under a pilot project.<\/p>\n
More than 800 people drowned off Libya’s coast on Sunday, bringing the number of deaths this year to 1,750.<\/p>\n
More than 21,000 people are estimated to have reached Italy this year.<\/p>\n
Italian PM Matteo Renzi has called for direct action against people smugglers.<\/p>\n
He described them as “the slave traders of the 21st Century”.<\/p>\n
A draft statement for Thursday’s meeting in Brussels says leaders will commit to “undertake systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers”.<\/p>\n
It says EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini “is invited to immediately begin preparations for a possible security and defence policy operation to this effect, in accordance with international law”.<\/p>\n