EU ministers agreed at an emergency meeting on Friday to back the arming of overwhelmed Iraqi Kurd fighters in the face of an onslaught by Islamic State jihadists. Ministers were gathered in Brussels in a rare summertime meeting facing calls to act to stop what Germany said was the slaughter of civilians. "Iraq is on the brink of a true catastrophe. A million people in Iraq are fleeing their homes," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
"In northern Iraq, in the Kurdish part, Yazidis and Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered." The meeting was called at the urging France and Italy, which said the situation in Iraq required urgent attention. The ministers said they welcomed "the decision by individual member states to respond positively to the call by the Kurdish regional authorities to provide urgently military material". "Such responses will be done according to the capabilities and national laws of the member states, and with the consent of the Iraqi national authorities," it said. France has already begun to provide weapons to beleaguered Iraqi forces with Britain also ready to do so.
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said an EU-wide response to the crisis was crucial. Defence matters are strictly the purview of member states, and the EU approval for member states to send arms to a conflict zone is rare. A diplomat said the agreement was "strong and sends the desired political message" to the world. Alarming images of Iraqi minorities, including Christians, under siege by jihadists have struck chords in European capitals. EU governments are also concerned by the Islamic State's ability to attract radicals from Europe who then return home to the West battle-hardened.
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