EU foreign ministers to meet on Iraq amid calls for more action

(BRUSSELS) - European Union foreign ministers are to meet on Friday to discuss the crisis in Iraq, the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, after key member states called for bolder action to help the country's civilians.

In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Ashton said the extraordinary meeting would "focus on the EU's response to major ongoing crises, focusing on Iraq and Ukraine."

The ministerial talks follows a meeting of EU ambassadors on Tuesday in which member states began to coordinate ways to help an Iraqi government under siege by Islamic State fighters who control much of the country.

France and Italy have for days been calling for such a meeting to respond to Iraqi Kurd appeals for weapons in the face of a jihadist onslaught in northern Iraq.

Some countries are reluctant to provide weapons to a conflict zone on principle, but in what one EU source called a major breakthrough, none of the the bloc's envoys present on Tuesday voiced opposition to the call for arms by France, Italy and Britain.

Following in the UK's footsteps, President Francois Hollande on Wednesday said France would provide weapons to Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State militants.

Britain had said it would transport military supplies to Kurdish forces battling the militants amid Western fears the crisis could spread throughout the region.

The envoy meeting on Tuesday was set up in an effort to better coordinate the response by member states to a crisis the EU's executive called the world's most pressing emergency.

The ambassadors unanimously agreed on the need for urgent and increased humanitarian support but fell short of convening foreign ministers, who have the authority to engage major coordinated action by bloc countries.

On Wednesday, the European Commission boosted aid to Iraq to 17 million euros ($23 million), but said the real challenge was access to besieged civilians not the lack of humanitarian funding.

The US, which has been carrying out air strikes against jihadist positions, said on Wednesday it was assessing rescue options for the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped on Mount Sinjar while the UN warned of "potential genocide".