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EU to hold migrant crisis summit on Thursday

AFP
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EU to hold migrant crisis summit on Thursday
EU president Donald Tusk is considering an emergency summit on illegal immigration. Photo: John Thys/AFP

EU president Donald Tusk is to host an emergency summit on the migration crisis on Thursday, after the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean in which more than 700 people are feared to have perished.

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"I have decided to call an extraordinary European Council this Thursday to address situation in the Mediterranean," Tusk said on Twitter on Monday, a day after Italian premier Matteo Renzi called for the meeting.

As news of the tragedy emerged on Sunday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also voiced support for a summit of the EU's 28 leaders, as did Britain's David Cameron.

"The situation in the Mediterranean is dramatic," Tusk said later in a video statement.

"We cannot continue like this, we can't accept that hundreds of people die when trying to cross the sea to Europe," he added.

"I don't expect any quick-fix solutions to the root causes of migration because there are none. Had they existed we would have used them long ago."

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