EU Officials Hold Talks to Stop Human Trafficking

Defence ministers from five European Union countries are meeting for talks on a military campaign to stop human trafficking and reinforce the region’s defences against the flow of migrants from North Africa, Aljazeera reports.

Officials from France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain on Sunday will use events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Lorient, western France, to discuss how to battle the influx of migrants to Europe, which has already cost thousands of lives.

The ministers are also expected to discuss Europe’s common defence strategy, including “possible options for European [military] action” after some of the most deadly migrant shipwrecks ever seen in the Mediterranean this year, according to the French defence ministry.

The meeting comes as key European governments said they would resist a separate EU plan to force the bloc’s 28 member states to share the burden of hosting refugees.