Members of the European Union reached an agreement Monday in Brussels on technical issues related to launching a new European mission replacing Operation Sophia in front of the Libya shores, which is a naval mission to track human smugglers and tackle concerns of migrants’ flow to Europe.
Speaking after a video conference with the EU's foreign ministers, EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that he hoped that an agreement on the monitoring of a UN arms embargo on Libya would be reached by the end of March.
Some pending issues remain, mainly how to deal with concerns of rescuing potential migrants, he continued.
Peter Stano, the European Commission's chief spokesman on foreign and security policy, said that the Libyan issue is a major one on the European agenda.
The European stance is clear towards the necessity of Libya's ceasefire and the return to dialogue, he told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper before briefing the ministerial meeting on the new mission to replace Operation Sophia -- the mission falls under the European contribution to achieve peace in Libya and implement embargo on arms.
Discussions were ongoing regarding the new mission among member countries in the past period, however, the coronavirus outbreak disrupted work in European institutions and canceled several meetings, Stano added.
In February, the EU foreign ministers agreed on launching a new mission in the Mediterranean Sea to monitor arms’ entry to Libya, based on UN resolutions. This agreement put an end to recent debates on reactivating Operation Sophia.
