The meeting will deal with the humanitarian and political response to the situation in North Africa, particularly in Libya, where an uprising against Muammar Gaddafi is closing in on the capital Tripoli.
"I will make proposals to the European Council on the strategic lines of the EU's reaction to developments in Libya and in our southern neighbourhood," Van Rompuy said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on 27 February that Paris is calling for an EU summit meeting to discuss the consequences of events in Libya. The next day, the bloc adopted sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi and his supporters and UK Prime Minister David Cameron joined Sarkozy in calling for a special EU summit.
The leaders of the 17 eurozone countries were already due to meet on 11 March in Brussels to discuss competitiveness targets. Their meeting is expected to take place on the sidelines of the Libya summit.
Libya could descend into civil war unless Muammar Gaddafi quits, the United States said on Tuesday.
Gaddafi remained defiant, dispatching forces to a western border area amid fears that the most violent Arab revolt may grow bloodier and cause a humanitarian crisis.
Tunisian border guards fired into the air on Tuesday to try to control a crowd of people clamouring to cross the frontier and escape the violence.
About 70,000 people have passed through the Ras Jdir border post in the past two weeks, and many more of the hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in Libya are expected to follow.
Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam warned the West against launching any military action to topple Gaddafi, and said the veteran ruler would not step down or go into exile.
"Using force against Libya is not acceptable. There's no reason, but if they want [...] we are ready, we are not afraid," he told Sky television, adding: "We live here, we die here."
The United States said it was moving ships and planes closer to the oil-producing North African state.
The destroyer USS Barry moved through the Suez Canal on Monday and into the Mediterranean. Two amphibious assault ships, the USS Kearsarge, which can carry 2,000 Marines, and the USS Ponce, are in the Red Sea and are expected to go through the canal early on Wednesday.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
