Did they read Katie Hopkins’s column?

The European Union is to launch military operations against the networks of smugglers in Libya whom they blame for sending thousands of people to their deaths in the Mediterranean.

Following the reported deaths of around 1,300 migrants in three incidents in less than a fortnight in the waters south of Sicily, the pressure was on the EU and its member states to come up with new policies addressing headlines branding the incidents “Europe’s shame”.

A meeting held to decide on a course of action identified “some actions” aimed at combatting the trafficking gangs mainly in Libya, such as “destroying ships”, said Federica Mogherini, the former Italian foreign minister who is the EU’s chief foreign and security policy coordinator and who chaired Monday’s meeting.

The operation would be “civil-military” modelled on previous military action in the Horn of Africa to combat Somali piracy. The military action would require a UN mandate. “This is a systematic effort to capture and destroy vessels used by the smugglers,” said the European commission.

I doubt the EU has the ability to accomplish anything in this regard, but their declaration to take such action seems to be an admission that they at last accept that people coming by boat are not genuine refugees.