The European Union’s Foreign Ministers launched a naval mission in the Mediterranean this Monday, which aims to tackle the criminal networks of migrant smugglers and is likely to be deployed a week later.
The mission is supposed to target the boats used by traffickers sending migrants out to sea at the risk of their lives. However, in the absence of a United Nations Security Council green light in Libyan waters, it will for now be limited to coastal surveillance and increased intelligence gathering and sharing on smuggler networks.
This mission, named EU Navfor Med, based in Rome, will be able to deploy military ships, maritime patrol aircraft, drones, and submarines: “listen, see, analyze” is supposed to be the aim of the operation*.
However, the project is currently hampered by United Nations regulations, which prohibit the use of force by this mission in Libyan territorial waters. To do so would require a United Nations Security Council resolution, which needs the agreement of the Libyan authorities.
The head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, hopes that the current negotiations between rival factions in Libya will soon lead to the formation of a national unity government, which could then unanimously present its request to the UN.
