(Brussels) “Too many people still die in the Mediterranean. We have taken measures to cope with this situation, but we must do more”. The EU Commission presents “potential short- and long-term measures to cope with flows to and from North Africa. The most important thing is the stability of Libya and the whole region”. The head of the EU Executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, describes a few aspects of the ideas submitted yesterday by the Council of Commissioners “about how to better handle migration and save lives along the Central Mediterranean route”; such ideas are to be discussed by the special European Council in Malta on February 3^rd. “These measures are designed to fight against the traps of human trafficking, to help manage migration flows more effectively, to keep saving lives at sea, and to improve the living conditions of migrants and refugees in Libya and in the neighbouring countries. Of course the intention is also to reduce migration flows to Europe. The ideas submitted yesterday by he EU Commission have been forwarded to the governments of the twenty-eight member states. “Since 2015 the resources and assets allocated to the EU’s sea operations have been tripled”, the EU Commission specifies, “helping save over 400 thousand people in the Mediterranean. However, increased migration along the Central Mediterranean route, used by over 181 thousand migrants and refugees to reach the EU in 2016, also resulted in unprecedented levels of human lives lost at sea”. To prevent “such tragedy going on in 2017”, a “global strategy” should be promoted, based on the wider regional scenario (especially the southern borders of Libya, as well as Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria), “while focussing more on Libya, which is the place over 90% of the people who try to reach Europe come from”.