Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday, 2 February, that he was opposed to the return of ships in the naval operation EUNAVFORMed Sophia to monitor the arms embargo on Libya.
"It is an obvious trick to want to relaunch the 'Sophia' rescue mission under the pretext of monitoring the UN arms embargo. I want to make it clear that this will not be the case. Austria categorically rejects it and several other countries don't want it either", he explained in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.
The Chancellor considered that the EU should instead focus on monitoring the arms embargo on the ground and in the air.
Kurz was critical of the Sophia mission, considering that it had been ineffective in monitoring the embargo between 2016 and 2019, and had been primarily a rescue mission, a "ticket to Europe" for thousands of illegal migrants.
Last week, the Ambassadors agreed to strengthen the air component of the operation (see EUROPE 12414/11). The European External Action Service is due to present proposals this week to revise the mandate of the operation. With this mandate running until 31 March, Europe is hoping for progress at the Foreign Affairs Council on 17 February. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Agathe Cherki)