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Schulz calls for change of EU migration policy

BRUSSELS, April 19 (KUNA) -- EU leaders Sunday expressed their shock and sorrow over the capsizing of a boat off the Libyan coast, in which possibly up to 700 people have lost their lives.
"How many more people will have to drown until we finally act in Europe? How many times more do we want to express our dismay, only to then move on to our daily routine? Words of grief are not enough. We cannot continue like this," said the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz in a statement.
"Europe can do more and Europe must do more. It is a shame and a confession of failure how many countries run away from responsibility and how little money we provide for rescue missions. The cooperation with the authorities in our Mediterranean neighbourhood and the creation of a government of national unity in Libya are of crucial importance," he stressed.
Schulz called for a change of the EU refugee and migration policies.
On her part, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini in a separate statement said she has decided to put the issue of migration on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting tomorrow in Luxembourg.
She will I'll present a set of proposals for Libya, one of the main routes of illegal trafficking of migrants.
"We need to continue to work on the root causes of migration and most of all on the instability of an area that is broader and broader, from Iraq to Libya," said the EU foreign policy chief.
"Tomorrow I'll call on all the European countries to show and to prove through action that they adhere to the shared fundamental values they declared as their own when they joined the European Union," she added. (pick up previous) nk.mt