EU unlocks its next mission on the Libyan coast

The European Union (EU) is finally taking concrete action on account of the conflict in Libya. On Thursday, the member states of the EU club agreed on the details of the new naval operation launched from Brussels in the central Mediterranean, one of the main migratory routes towards the coasts of the old continent.

Operation Irini - 'peace' in Greek - will begin next April and is designed to replace Operation Sofia, which was blocked because of internal disagreements within the EU, mainly due to the stance of countries like Italy - when ultra-right-wing Matteo Salvini was Interior Minister - or Austria. Officially, Sofia expires at the end of March.

While its predecessor was more focused on the rescue of migrants on the high seas, the main objective of Operation Irini will be to play a more active role, at least in theory, and to ensure that the international arms embargo on Libya is enforced. The EU is also targeting human trafficking networks.

Under Irini, EU vessels will also continue to carry out rescue work of migrants. They will be transferred to safe ports in Greece, according to diplomatic sources in Brussels in statements to the Libyan Express newspaper.

This new initiative, which Austria and Hungary have been blocking in recent weeks, has been adopted with the help of Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Spanish politician warned yesterday that Brussels was running a very serious risk of “falling into irrelevance” in the face of the strength of both Turkey and Russia on the Libyan geopolitical chessboard.

Indeed, this is the first time that the European Union has taken concrete action since the blockade of Operation Sofia and since hostilities in the country escalated. Since April last year Ankara and Moscow have been fighting a kind of proxy war. On one hand, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed contracts to access the gas reserves of the Government of National Accord (GNA) located in Tripoli, the capital. 

In addition, Erdogan has supported the administration - officially recognised as legitimate by the UN - with its own armed forces and up to 6,000 Syrian war fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Many of them come from the circle of Jihadist groups.

Facing the ANG is the Libyan National Army (LNA) of rebel marshal Khalifa Haftar, which controls the east of the country and threatens to take Tripoli and Misrata, the last major urban centres to remain under the control of Fayez Sarraj's ANG. Among others, the LNA receives logistical and arms support from Russia and Egypt. Similarly, it has the political backing of powers such as France, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Until now, the EU's role has been, to say the least, hesitant. Member States such as France, Italy and Greece had each acted on their own, seeking to further their own interests. Germany was the EU player that had made the most effort to try to find a negotiated solution, although its initiatives had been in vain. Because of its delay in designing a coherent policy for Libya and the Mediterranean, the EU has been - and still is - rather criticised in the past by non-governmental organisations operating at sea to rescue migrants who are adrift.

It should be noted, however, that, with its drawbacks, Operation Sofia helped to save many lives. According to Frédéric Penard, head of operations of SOS Méditerranée, the number of lives saved by the previous community deployment is between 43,000 and 50,000.

Over the past few days, Borrell, as head of community diplomacy, has repeatedly supported calls by the United Nations for the two sides to agree to establish a lasting ceasefire, at least while the global coronavirus pandemic is developing. In a country as devastated as Libya, the pathogen could wreak havoc and further aggravate an already borderline situation.