{"id":1058746,"date":"2026-06-30T02:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T02:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058746\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T02:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T02:41:09","slug":"the-eu-finds-itself-trumped-in-north-africa-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058746\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU finds itself Trumped in north Africa \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU has spent billions of euros trying to\u00a0cosy\u00a0up to authoritarian regimes across North Africa, as part of its efforts to limit migration\u00a0and build relations on\u00a0counter-terrorism\u00a0and security. But now it appears, in Libya and Morocco at least, that the EU has been Trumped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Libya has been split for more than a decade since stalemate in the country\u2019s civil war led to rival administrations being formed in the capital Tripoli \u2013 home\u00a0to the\u00a0government\u00a0recognised\u00a0by most of the international community \u2013 and in Benghazi in eastern Libya, run with the support of the Libyan National Army led by warlord general Khalifa\u00a0Haftar. But in recent months the two sides have agreed a unified budget \u2013 the first since 2014 \u2013 and now roadmap towards\u00a0elections next February.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Friday (26 June), the \u2018Libya National Initiative\u2019 held a press conference at the Press Club in Brussels to\u00a0\u201cpresent\u00a0a credible pathway forward, moving\u00a0Libya\u00a0from crisis management to solution making, and towards the election of a new executive authority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It added that \u201cLibya\u2019s stability is inseparable from the broader stability of the Mediterranean region, and the European Union has a strong and direct interest in a peaceful, stable and unified\u00a0Libya.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is all\u00a0true enough. Yet the momentum towards\u00a0a united Libya has come from the United States, specifically Massad Boulos, father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, and US president Donald Trump\u2019s Africa envoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is not brokering political harmony for its own sake. It wants\u00a0unfettered\u00a0access to Libya\u2019s oil and, potentially,\u00a0a\u00a0permanent\u00a0military base on its territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The settlement proposed by Boulos would install Haftar\u2019s son Saddam<\/a> as head of a new presidential council while keeping Tripoli-based prime minister Abdel Hamid Dubaiba in post, prior to elections being held.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That the Trump administration has sidelined the United Nations in attempting to broker a peace deal was\u00a0clear from a Security Council resolution\u00a0in April, drafted by\u00a0Britain, which called for payments for crude oil exported from Libya to be routed exclusively through accounts of the National Oil Corporation at the Libyan Foreign Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April, the US Department of Defense<\/a> launched\u00a0its Flintlock 26\u00a0manoeuvres, a joint counter-terrorism operation with the Italian and Libyan army,\u00a0at\u00a0a training\u00a0centre\u00a0in Sirte, could also lead to a permanent presence for\u00a0the US military\u2019s Africa Command (AFRICOM)\u00a0in Libya.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along with access to critical minerals,\u00a0defence\u00a0and security cooperation is the Trump\u00a0administration\u2019s\u00a0main priority in its relations with Africa.\u00a0Since being forced to leave its AFRICOM base in Niger in 2024, as part of the military junta\u2019s efforts to kick European and American troops out of its country, the US has been seeking an alternative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Libya is not the only game in town for Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the Horn of Africa, the breakaway republic of Somaliland, which is seeking independence from Somalia,\u00a0has offered a military base to the US \u2013 as well as a navy base to Israel \u2013 in exchange for Washington\u00a0recognising\u00a0its statehood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

More significant for the EU\u2019s\u00a0defence\u00a0and security interests is Washington\u2019s designs on Morocco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the\u00a0US Senate Armed Services Committee introduced a clause\u00a0to a\u00a0new\u00a0defence\u00a0law that orders the Pentagon to create a 10-year roadmap to make Morocco its key military partner in Africa.\u00a0That would codify a bilateral\u00a0defence\u00a0agreement signed by Washington and Rabat\u00a0in April and turn it into legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Washington already sells large volumes of weaponry to Morocco and has increased sales since Trump\u00a0recognised\u00a0Rabat\u2019s sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed territory to Morocco\u2019s south. Since then, France, Spain and the EU\u00a0as a whole have\u00a0changed their policy and backed Morocco\u2019s claims to the territory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The EU has also\u00a0sought\u00a0to strengthen its relations with Morocco, its main trading partner in North Africa and an ally on migration control.\u00a0EU Commission officials have also held talks with rival administrations in Libya.\u00a0But the bloc appears to have been left behind. <\/p>\n

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