Libya: EU is ready to play hardball in migration negotiations

Magnus Brunner, the European Commissioner for Migration, suggested in an interview that the EU could consider using development aid and visa access as leverage in migration negotiations, according to the Libya Observer on July 21st.

Libya’s northern border is on the Mediterranean sea, and therefore a popular transit point for immigrants to reach Europe that the EU and other countries on the Mediterranean sea such as Greece want to limit.

Brunner also indicated that the EU is ready to negotiate directly with Khalifa Haftar who is loyal to the eastern government in Libya, despite the government recently refusing to talk to Brunner and the EU officially backing the western government of Tripoli.

Libya Observer/Maghrebi