 (AA) – EU leaders should agree at their summit on Thursday to provide funding for search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean for migrants, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said.
EU leaders are set to gather for the summit in Brussels to discuss their response to the shipwreck off the Libyan coast on Sunday in which 900 migrants are feared to have died.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told a joint news conference with Juncker in Vienna on Tuesday: “In terms of funding needed for rescue missions at sea, I expect that we don’t ask questions on Thursday, but offer funding.”
Juncker said: “I see this exactly so.”
The European Union has proposed doubling the size of its search-and-rescue mission after the migrants perished as they tried to reach Europe.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized European leaders for their decision in November last year to shut down the EU’s Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation, which save the lives of many migrants who were at risk of drowning.
The EU now runs the limited operation Triton under the bloc’s Frontex border controls agency.Â
