The outrage Europe's leaders face over the deaths of hundreds of refugees trying to reach its shores may force a shift in a policy critics decry as letting people drown to deter others in desperate need.
The moat that the Mediterranean forms between "Fortress Europe" and less fortunate neighbors may become slightly less forbidding, even if the focus will still be to discourage the crossing in ways other than raising the risk of dying at sea.
Scrambling to respond to the deaths of up to 700 people on a fishing boat making for Italy from Libya, EU foreign ministers were to meet Monday, and government leaders, some of whom are already calling for change, may also gather soon.