Brussels rules out €5 billion deal with Libya

European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström yesterday ruled out that the EU could in future give €5 billion a year to Libya to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

However, she stressed that the cooperation agreement the north African country signed with the Commission on Monday signalled a clear commitment from Tripoli in the fight against illegal immigration.

“Libya is not the easiest of countries and the development of relations with the EU has always been slow and difficult. I hope this first step will progress and become a form of steady cooperation,” she told a press conference in Brussels soon after returning from Libya.

During a visit to Italy last month, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi entered the eye of controversy again when he called on the EU to fork out €5 billion a year to his country to “stop Europe from becoming black”.

It is estimated there are about 1.5 million irregular immigrants in Libya wanting to cross over to Europe.

Ms Malmström said that although Libyan ministers had repeated Col Gaddafi’s call, she made it clear that kind of money was not available. “We are not going to give Libya a cheque for €5 billion a year,” she insisted.

According to the Commission, the new agreement, which has still to be discussed at technical level by experts from the EU, representatives of its member states and Libya, will be based on projects related to the surveillance of Libya’s borders, the voluntary return of illegal immigrants from Libya to their country of origin and the upgrading of facilities used for asylum seekers in Libya.

Ms Malmström would not give a timeline when the agreement would come into force citing “further negotiations”. She even declined to give clear indications of the first projects to be implemented, prompting questions on whether the agreement with Libya is a solid one.

Sources close to the Commission said the deal “seems to be very preliminary and it will all depend on the mood of the Libyans and their willingness to make the agreement work.

Malta, which has been calling for more cooperation between the EU and Libya for a long time, yesterday welcomed the deal, calling it “an initial but crucial step” developing relations between both parties.

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said Malta had consistently maintained that Libya, a primary transit country in the flow of immigrants from Africa to Europe, required assistance to handle the challenges this phenomenon presented due to the country’s vast land and sea borders and the large numbers of immigrants passing through.