Under Operation Sophia, naval vessels will be able to board, search, seize and divert vessels suspected of being used for people smuggling.Until now, the EU has focused on surveillance and rescue operations.
So far this year, more than 130,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe from the north African coast. More than 2,700 have drowned.
However, many more migrants and refugees - mainly Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war - are taking a different route. They are crossing overland into Turkey, before a short journey by sea to European Union member Greece and onwards to central and northern European countries, with Germany the preferred destination.
The migrant crisis was one of the issues raised by French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a rare joint address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
‘Can’t let them down’ President Hollande told European MPs that Europe had initially been “slow in understanding the tragedies of the Middle East and Africa could not but have consequences for Europe itself”.
The EU now needed to work together in solidarity, rather than retreating into “our own national shells”, he said.
“There is a humanitarian crisis which we need to confront, with an influx of refugees... The only solution is a strong Europe.”
Chancellor Merkel said the influx of refugees was “changing the agenda in Europe... global events affect us whether we like it or not”.
She agreed with her French counterpart that the only way to tackle the problem was for the EU to work together - on trying to end conflict in the regions affected; on supporting countries like Turkey, which is currently home to two million Syrian refugees; and in providing a safe haven for refugees.