The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday 16 June called on the Member States to mobilise more resources and intelligence for the EunavforMed Irini operation in order to further strengthen it.
It has a Greek ship and three aircraft from Luxembourg, Poland and Germany. According to Borrell, Italy has also announced that the flagship will join the operation. But this is still not enough: the previous operation, Sophia, had five ships. Discussions are also underway to establish new cooperation between Irini and NATO. Mr Borell hoped to reach an agreement on this issue "within the next few days".
The High Representative, however, considered that, while he was "certain that it could do more and better", Irini was already fulfilling the objectives for which it was created.
Since its launch, the operation had made contact with ships on more than 130 occasions, 29 of which were in connection with the oil embargo. "The operation is gathering information involving actors on both sides of the conflict and is already yielding results", Borrell said. He therefore denied that the operation would be to the disadvantage of the government of national accord and its Turkish ally. Of the 130 contacts, "not all of them belonged to Turkey and a transfer of military aircraft, which are now near Benghazi and are not Turkish Air Force at all, was detected", he said.
The High Representative also reiterated the refusal at the end of May by a "suspicious" vessel detected by satellite, flying the Tanzanian flag and escorted by Turkish vessels, to respond to a request for contact. According to this escort, the ship was carrying medical supplies to Libya. "We considered that, in accordance with the law of the sea, we could do nothing more than forward the information to the United Nations", he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)