The EU is considering sending a military mission to Libya to help evacuation efforts and to address the humanitarian crisis, according to the EU’s Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg this morning, Lady Ashton said the EU was looking “on a prudent planning basis” at a “possible Common Foreign and Security Policy engagement”.

“That engagement would be to support current evacuation and humanitarian efforts,” she explained.

Work on planning the mission, which would need careful analysis and “proper answers on questions of mandate, resources and objectives”, is “ongoing this week”, she told MEPs.

The EU's top diplomat spoke ahead of a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers tomorrow and of a summit Friday, dedicated to the situation in North Africa, and specifically to Libya.

During her speech, Ms Ashton did not mention the possibility of imposing no-fly zone over Libya, an option under consideration by the international community, amid reports that Britain and France are preparing a UN Security Council resolution to authorise it.

In the past weeks, the EU has repeatedly urged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to go.

This morning, Ms Ashton did not reiterate that call, but pledged to “work to support the emergence of a new Libya, with democratically-chosen leaders and where people's rights are respected”.