The acting director of the Directorate General for the Southern Neighbourhood at the European Commission’s DG NEAR, Henrike Trautmann, said on Wednesday 2 February that it was essential to support Libya on migration issues.
“The coastguard rescued 31,000 migrants in 2021, which is still not enough when you see the current flows”, she told the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, noting that there had been more than 68,000 arrivals in Europe via the central Mediterranean, more than half of them from Libya.
According to Ms Trautmann, it is therefore “essential to support Libya by providing equipment, strengthening the capacity of the coastguards in the area of border management”.
The Director explained that a few days ago DG NEAR officials had discussions with the Italian authorities regarding three new vessels and two refurbished ones, which she hoped would be delivered to Libya in the first half of the year.
While the EU’s support for coastguards is criticised, Ms Trautmann said it was better to help them than to leave them to their own devices and have even more deaths in the Mediterranean. She acknowledged that the EU would need the help of all, including the Member States, to ensure that the Libyan authorities use the equipment in accordance with international law. “We want the equipment to be able to be delivered, but we want it to be accompanied by training, because we need to ensure that human rights standards are met”, she added.
The training of coastguards by the EU operation Irini is suspended and Turkey has taken over. Ms Trautmann said that a European mission was planned in the coming weeks to Libya to continue discussions on training.
The director also said that the EU would like to respond to Libya’s request for more assistance on the country’s southern border, especially in the fight against trafficking. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)