EU leaders this afternoon agreed on a clear commitment for action in Libya and has given the United Nations a mandate to implement measures to increase security in the troubled country.
As he exited the EU heads of government meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told journalists he was satisfied with the "concrete commitment" of direct action in Libya, the closest African state to Malta. He said the situation in Libya and the need of assistance there to protect Europe from a possible spillover, was brought to the agenda through the insistence of Italy and Malta.
"We cannot expect an EU operation to make the entire Libyan area secure but there will be critical zones which the EU can help protect, such as government buildings, oil refineries, airports and the frontiers. This morning Tunisian security services said that according to their information, the people who carried out the terrorist attack were trained in Libya and this was specifically mentioned," he said.
Dr Muscat said the operation, which would not be in the form of a military intervention, would involve other partners such as Arab countries and would be undertaken after a political situation is sought for a unifying government.
"This was a very important development which will see the EU taking a direct role in helping Libya deal with the situation there. For Malta it was even more significant that the matter was directly linked to the phenomenon of illegal migration. This is not the be all and end all but at least now there is a clear commitment from the EU," he said.
Asked by Times of Malta whether Malta was satisfied with this development, Dr Muscat said Malta would be satisfied once there was peace in Libya. But with regard to the discussions at EU level, Dr Muscat said Malta was seeing that EU representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, had a clear vision on how to address the matter and she had been given a mandate to report on the available options.
Asked about the situation in Greece, Dr Muscat said EU leaders were given a short brief on the meeting with the Greek government last night. There was no discussion on the matter and the ball was now in the Greek government's court.