EU Ups Funding for Libyan Refugee Crisis

BRUSSELS—The European Union increased its aid to handle the refugee crisis in Libya, and will mobilize extra funds to help member countries maintain border control, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday.

In a press briefing Wednesday, Mr. Barroso said the EU must reshape its relationship with North Africa and provide more resources to the region.

Mr. Barroso said the EU was increasing its aid for the refugee crisis to €10 million ($13.8 million).

He said there are about 140,000 refugees who have fled Libya, many of them Egyptians who had crossed into Tunisia. He said the situation was a "humanitarian tragedy" with some of the people lacking any identity papers.

Mr. Barroso said the commission isn't involved in discussions of a no-fly zone, but that the EU must do everything possible to ensure that Col. Moammar Gadhafi steps down.

Speaking on the EU's future role in the region, Mr. Barroso said the EU needs to focus on helping countries that improve the rule of law and making more resources available to the region. The EU supports giving a greater role to the European Investment Bank in helping small businesses and job creation in the region, and having the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to invest there.

Mr. Barroso also said the group needs to reshape its role in the region to support democracy, dismissing idea that the Arab world wasn't fit for democracy. Similar arguments were made bout southern Europe when it democratized in the 1970s, he said.

"They will of course follow their own road, make their own choices. It is not up to us to tell them what to do," Mr. Barroso said. But the EU is "totally determined" to help them along the "journey to democracy and a better future."