EU president Donald Tusk and the bloc's foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said today they would visit Tunisia on March 31 to boost security cooperation and show solidarity after a deadly attack on a Tunis museum.
"Events in the southern Mediterranean are dangerous for Europe," Tusk told a press conference after a two-day EU leaders summit in Brussels.
"We condemned the appalling terrorist attack in Tunis this week and agreed to intensify cooperation with Tunisia in order to counter the terrorist threat, to strengthen its promising democracy and to assist its economic and social development," he added.
The attack which left 21 people dead, many of them European tourists, overshadowed the summit where the rapidly deteriorating security situation in neighbouring Libya was a major concern.
Reports that the Islamic State jihadist group had gained a foothold in Libya stoked those fears, and appeared to be confirmed when IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
Wednesday's assault on the national museum in Tunis was the deadliest since Tunisia's 2011 revolution, which sparked the Arab Spring uprisings and hopes of a more prosperous and democratic future across the region.
Many of those hopes have since come to nothing, stoking deep resentment among younger Arabs who see IS and other extremist groups as the only alternative to backward-looking governments.
Mogherini stressed that the EU would work closely with the Tunis government to boost the economy and so offer young Tunisians a future and an alternative to Islamic extremism.
The EU fears that many of its own citizens going to fight with extremist groups in Iraq and Syria will return home radicalised and well trained, presenting a security risk highlighted by the Paris attacks in January which left 17 dead.
Tusk and Mogherini will also visit Italy and Malta, countries deeply concerned that IS inroads into Libya and North Africa will increase the flood of refugees landing on their shores as they seek to get to Europe.
The EU's 28 leaders at the summit called on Mogherini to begin work on a possible security mission to Libya once the country's warring factions agree a national unity government.
