“On Libya: recent developments show that the crisis may spiral out of control. Today, we wanted to send a strong signal of unity and engagement. We are in agreement on the need to engage more strongly before it is becoming too late” said the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell after the meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

“Mr Salamé (pictured) has warned us again. He did so in the past, at previous Councils. He insisted on the fact that in Libya there are several risks, and these risks are increasing. First, the terrorism risk. The presence of fighters coming from Syria and also from Sudan is being detected more and more.

*Second, the migration risk. There are almost 700 000 people, according to his figures, coming from sub-Saharan Africa and from other countries. Most of them are working in Libya, not all of them want to go to Europe but some, depending on the situation in Libya may still will want to go because they may lose their jobs depending on the situation.
The third risk is the risk of destabilising the whole region, from Libya spreading wider to the Sahel.

And the fourth risk is a new geopolitical scheme. New actors are appearing in Libya: Russia and Turkey, and the whole geopolitical [situation] in the Central Mediterranean could be changed.
So we have a strong set of reasons to move from rhetoric to action. I have received the mandate to work in order to make our diplomatic outreach [more effective], to reach a political solution in the framework of the Berlin Process.
Hoping that the parties can reach a ceasefire – and we all will contribute to it – and hoping that the Berlin process can reach a political agreement, we will have to focus on monitoring the ceasefire, on controlling the arms embargo and other security measures, based on the experience of Operation Sophia.

“There’ is a strong agreement among [Foreign Affairs] Ministers [of the EU] to ask me to present proposals on these three points to the next Foreign Affairs Council or after an agreement on the ceasefire can be reached.
We are not going to do just an agreement for a ceasefire: if it happens and if there is an agreement – in the framework of the Berlin process, I insist – we will have to take measures in order to contribute to monitor the ceasefire and control the arms embargo.*