EU ministers discuss stepping up border security

Interior ministers from European Union nations experiencing pressure from unauthorised migration on Friday called for more action to strengthen and protect the bloc's external borders.

Ministers from countries that included Greece, Poland, Italy, Austria and France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, participated in a border security security conference in Lithuania's capital, along with European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.

They said that reinforcing the EU's borders and cracking down on people smugglers would protect EU citizens and the lives of migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa who undertake hazardous journeys to reach Europe.