On Monday 20 January, the Foreign Ministers of the Member States instructed the working bodies of the Council of the EU to present concrete measures to the EU Council with the aim of contributing to the implementation of the ceasefire in Libya and compliance with the arms embargo called for by the participants at the Berlin Conference the day before.
The ministers “have expressed their willingness to support the arrangements agreed in Berlin, in particular to help ensure that the truce, and then hopefully the ceasefire, can be put in place and to help monitor the arms embargo. To do this, the High Representative has been mandated to provide concrete solutions as soon as possible”, explained the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Yves le Drian, at the end of the EU Council meeting.
“We are going to focus again in particular on the mission of the arms embargo, which must be controlled not only by the sea. Most of the weapons come through the desert. We can control the sea, but we must also control the land”, said High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. According to him, monitoring the arms embargo requires “satellites and planes”. A presence on the ground – more complex – could also be envisaged.
Thus, according to Luxembourg Minister Jean Asselborn, “there is a political will to restart” Operation Sophia. Ministers therefore instructed their Political and Security Committee Ambassadors to work towards a resumption of this operation. It already has a UN mandate to monitor the implementation of the arms embargo on Libya, but it has been without naval assets since March 2019, due to a disagreement over the ports of disembarkation of migrants collected by ships participating in Sophia.
Italian Minister Luigi di Maio explained that the mission could be a starting point for using the UN mandate without having to repeat the whole procedure for a mission. “But Sophia needs to be dismantled and put back together in a completely different way”, he warned.
The monitoring of the future ceasefire that must follow the current truce is more complex, especially as the EU does not, for the time being, have a UN mandate to carry it out. Ahead of the EU Council, in an interview with Der Spiegel, Mr Borrell had explained that the EU should be “ready to help implement and monitor this ceasefire, possibly also with soldiers, for example in the framework of an EU mission”. This mission could be civilian, military or have both components.
The High Representative hoped that the various options, both for compliance with the embargo and the ceasefire, would be ready to be presented to the Foreign Affairs Council on 17 February. However, the revision of the mandate would require the agreement of the national parliaments in respect of certain Member States, which could extend the time limits for decisions.
Mr Michel envisages long-term EU support
The day before, in Berlin, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, had explained that the EU was ready to mobilise its resources “where they are most needed”.
In particular, he highlighted Europe’s longer-term ambitions, “conditions permitting”. Thus, in the political field, “the EU will support the next national conference, the organisation of elections and the possible reform of the constitution”. At the economic level, “the EU wants to focus its efforts on strengthening national institutions, such as the National Oil Company, the Central Bank and the National Investment Authority in Libya”, he explained. The EU could also contribute, according to Mr Michel, to security sector reform “through its Common Security and Defence Policy, including its civilian mission EUBAM”. Finally, the President of the European Council had announced that the EU wanted to contribute its expertise in the field of human rights. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with AC and MB)