The unprecedented mission, starting in June, will involve the deployment of warships and surveillance aircraft off the coast of Libya, the main launching point for people risking their lives to reach Europe.

Foreign and defence ministers are set to approve the scheme — a rare joint military step for a 28-nation bloc that historically prefers political and financial action to armed co-operation — at a meeting in Brussels.

But the plan is likely to remain in the air unless the EU wins a United Nations resolution approving military action against smugglers before their boats reach European waters.

The EU wants to be able to identify, intercept and possibly destroy the smugglers’ vessels while their boats are in Libyan waters in order to disrupt the traffickers’ “business model”. They will discuss the plans at a summit in Brussels aimed at tackling the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean

So far this year around 2,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean sea attempting to enter Europe.

With Press