Representatives from the European Commission and its External Action Service admitted there is a potentially explosive situation on the other side of the Mediterranean sea.
by Emanuele Bonini
Nearly one million people are blocked in Libya and are ready to come to Europe, the European Commission warned today. Migrants and asylum seekers are in special detention centres, and not all of them is controlled by the Libyan authorities. If the situation should get deteriorated, it would be impredictable for everybody to imagine what could be. In 2016 more the 180,000 arrivals from Lybia have been registered, but the situation could radically change, said the deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Maciej Popowski, during a public hearing hosted by the Committee on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament.
«Nearly one million people are blocked in Libya, so far. Not all of them come to Libya with the idea of reaching Europe, but now there is no job in the country». So what? The European Commission is trying to manage the migration crisis by acting in remote control. «We operate from Tunis for security reasons», he told MEPs. How the EU can get the situation under control in such a way? They can't, as recognised by the Desk Officer for Libya at European External Action Service (EEAS), Andrea Pontiroli. The situation in the country «is not progressing, and tension rise», he said. The country remains politically fragile, and a real fully in charge government is not in place. Economically speaking, risks of «collapse» are just behind the corner: Libya based most of national economy on oil production, and now it is shrinking with no alternatives made available. Furthermore, when it comes to migrants it has to be recognised that the phenomenon is not nationally controlled. Detention centres for refugee in Libya «are often controlled by militias instead of State», the EEAS representative admitted. So Libya is nothing but a time bomb ready to explode at any moment.
Nearly one million people are blocked in Libya and are ready to come to Europe, the European Commission warned today. Migrants and asylum seekers are in special detention centres, and not all of them is controlled by the Libyan authorities. If the situation should get deteriorated, it would be impredictable for everybody to imagine what could be. In 2016 more the 180,000 arrivals from Lybia have been registered, but the situation could radically change, said the deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Maciej Popowski, during a public hearing hosted by the Committee on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament.
«Nearly one million people are blocked in Libya, so far. Not all of them come to Libya with the idea of reaching Europe, but now there is no job in the country». So what? The European Commission is trying to manage the migration crisis by acting in remote control. «We operate from Tunis for security reasons», he told MEPs. How the EU can get the situation under control in such a way? They can't, as recognised by the Desk Officer for Libya at European External Action Service (EEAS), Andrea Pontiroli. The situation in the country «is not progressing, and tension rise», he said. The country remains politically fragile, and a real fully in charge government is not in place. Economically speaking, risks of «collapse» are just behind the corner: Libya based most of national economy on oil production, and now it is shrinking with no alternatives made available. Furthermore, when it comes to migrants it has to be recognised that the phenomenon is not nationally controlled. Detention centres for refugee in Libya «are often controlled by militias instead of State», the EEAS representative admitted. So Libya is nothing but a time bomb ready to explode at any moment.
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