Brussels, 05/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 3 March, the managing director of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the Middle East and Southern Neighbourhood, Hugues Mingarelli, called on the member states of the EU for better cooperation on Libya.
“There is a coordination problem with the member states. We must fight to have a good level of coordination”, he told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. He stated that due to Libya's prized oil and gas and the opportunities for contracts, there is “competition between several of our member states”. “While respecting competition, the member states and the European institutions need to be more closely coordinated in order to have an impact on the political reform and security domain”, Mingarelli added. While progress has been made “over recent months, we still do not have a totally satisfactory solution”, he added.
Mingarelli stated that the meeting on Libya in Rome on 6 March had the objective inter alia of better international coordination. “The coordination of international players must most definitely be strengthened (…) in order to be able launch a political transition with the necessary support of the international community”, he said. He hoped that the meeting might enable “a better division to be obtained within the international community regarding what must be done as a priority to recover security and stability in this country”.
Libya must be a priority for the EU. “Libya must be a priority for the EU because if it falls into a black hole, there will be an immediate impact on the EU”, Mingarelli stated, mentioning immigration and organised crime. “We don't have the choice. This issue must be kept at priority level”, he added.
In Mingarelli's view, the EU called for the relaunch of the EU-Libya framework agreement “as soon possible” - the negotiations for which were broken off at the beginning of 2011. “It is important to normalise relations with the country, that Libya might be considered as a normal country”, Mingarelli said. Constant dialogue must be held with the Libyan prime minister, the main ministers and the National Congress in order to be able to weigh up their choices and work on human rights, Mingarelli concluded. (CG)