EU considering launching naval mission in the Red Sea in three weeks

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he expects the bloc's foreign ministers to sign off on a naval mission protecting shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden when they meet on 19 February.

"Maritime security in the Red Sea has significantly deteriorated over the last weeks and we are very much advancing the work of a new maritime operation in order to act in a purely defensive mode to protect merchant vessels," Josep Borrell confirmed after an informal meeting of defence ministers in Brussels.

"Our goal is to establish and launch this mission, Aspides, at the latest on 19 February, I hope, and I'm sure we will," he added. Foreign affairs ministers from across the bloc are scheduled to meet in the Belgian capital on that date and stamp the plan with their approval.