Brussels, 13/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 12 May, the EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC) agreed to extend the mandate for one year of the EUNAVFOR Med Sophia naval operation in the Mediterranean, and to assign it two new tasks - to support the Libyan coastguard and navy, and to help implement the United Nations arms embargo on Libya.
On Friday 13 May, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini hailed this new political agreement, underlining the fact that the initial mission of the operation will remain unchanged and will still comprise “disrupting the business model of human smugglers and traffickers” in the central Mediterranean. Mogherini had already spoken of a change to the mandate in mid-April (see EUROPE 11534), as had the European foreign affairs ministers (see EUROPE 11535).
In a press release she said that the new task to be carried out by the mission will be to contribute to capacity-building and to training the Libyan navy and coastguard. There will also be information sharing. This task is based “on a request by the legitimate Libyan authorities”, Mogherini stated. The operation will also soon contribute to the implementation, on the high seas, of the arms embargo imposed on Libya, on the basis of a new United Nations Security Council resolution.
“The Operational Commander has been requested to urgently start operational planning on these two additional tasks, and the preparatory work, including on planning, will continue in the coming days”, Mogherini added. In her view, the developments of extending the mandate and adding two tasks, “are very welcome given the urgency of the situation in Libya”.
The agreement at PSC level will now have to be confirmed at the Council of Ministers level. This approval could come after the Foreign Affairs Council on 23 May, according to a European source, who did not think that this should pose any problems.
Elsewhere, as announced by EUROPE (see EUROPE 11548), Mogherini will take part in an international meeting on Libya being held in Vienna on Monday 16 May. The meeting is being organised by both the USA and Italy, and Libya's Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj is expected to attend. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)