An official in the European Commission’s Directorate of Neighborhood and Expansion Policies, Henrik Trautmann, said that Europe will deliver three new search and rescue (SAR) vessels and two coast guard boats to Libya starting from the first half of this year, noting that officials in the Libyan Coast Guard will visit at the end of this month to test the new boats before receiving them.
The official attributed providing this equipment and support to the capacity of the coast guard in Libya to the weak ability of Libya in preventing migrants from reaching Europe or hindering the incidents of drowning at sea, pointing out that the coast guard are still in need for support even if it has improved over the past year thanks to the assistance of the European Union.
The official downplayed human rights concerns, revealing that from 2014 to 2020, Europe spent nearly 500 million euros on programs mainly related to migration and border management in Libya.
Trautmann indicated that the new EU programs in Libya will focus on developing and strengthening democracy and the rule of law at an amount of 20 million euros annually, which can be increased to 32 or 37 million euros, highlighting the need for the transition to clean energy in Libya and the implementation of “environmental measures” to address the effects of climate change on immigration.
