ROME — Italy pressed the EU on Wednesday to devise robust steps to stop the deadly tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, including considering military intervention against smugglers and boosting U.N. refugee offices in countries bordering Libya.
“We know where the smugglers keep their boats, where they gather,” said Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti. “The plans for military intervention are there.”
About 90 percent of smugglers’ boats leave from Libya.
Pinotti said Italy was willing to take the helm of any military intervention if asked and as long as it is carried out as an international mission, backed by the United Nations.
“We’re ready to do our share,” she told Sky TG24. “We’re the closest country to Libya.”
Pinotti spoke a day before EU leaders hold an emergency summit in Brussels. Ahead of the summit, Premier Mario Renzi called for EU leaders to approve three key proposals: doubling the resources and assets of the current EU border patrol mission; destroying smugglers’ boats and improving coordination across the EU for transferring asylum seekers.
Italy has saved about 200,000 migrant lives at sea since the start of 2014.
