{"id":281456,"date":"2025-07-22T03:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T03:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/281456\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T03:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T03:30:21","slug":"we-must-work-with-libyans-to-stop-putin-weaponizing-migrants-top-eu-official-says-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/281456\/","title":{"rendered":"We must work with Libyans to stop Putin weaponizing migrants, top EU official says \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the center of the EU\u2019s concern are fears that Putin will do with Libya what he has already attempted in parts of Eastern Europe, where he has waged what EU officials say is a hybrid war on the bloc that includes weaponizing migration. EU countries accuse Minsk and Moscow<\/a>\u00a0of facilitating irregular crossings of asylum seekers through Poland and Lithuania, a tactic meant to put pressure on European governments by sowing political discord and boosting support for anti-immigration, often Russia-friendly parties.<\/p>\n

Brunner said the dangers of Putin\u2019s influence in Libya left Europe with little choice but to hold talks with Haftar and \u201cput our options on the table when it comes to migration diplomacy.\u201d That would entail coupling migration negotiations with issues like development aid for Libya or making it easier for Libyans to get European visas, Brunner said.<\/p>\n

\"\"The European Union must remain ready to negotiate with Russia-aligned Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar in order to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from further weaponizing migration. | Pool Photo by Gavrill Grigorov via EPA<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, EU interior ministers are expected to address the issue of how to treat Libya during an informal summit in Copenhagen that Brunner is attending.<\/p>\n

At a July 18 migration summit atop Germany\u2019s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, interior ministers sought to agree<\/a> on joint proposals for stricter European migration rules, reaching consensus on a range of measures including the establishment of return hubs for rejected asylum seekers outside the EU and enabling deportations to Syria and Afghanistan. The summit was jointly organized by Germany and France and attended by other EU nations with hardline migration stances, such as Poland and Denmark.<\/p>\n

Libya remains a particular concern for EU leaders. Over 600,000 displaced people reside in the North African country, according to UNHCR numbers<\/a>. The EU has provided funds to the Libyan Coast Guard to prevent migrants from reaching the bloc despite widespread reports of human rights violations.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the United Nations published a report<\/a> citing evidence of crimes against humanity committed against migrants in Libya, including \u00a0\u201coverwhelming\u201d evidence of systematic torture and sexual slavery.<\/p>\n

The western part of Libya is controlled by the internationally recognized Government of National Unity, with its capital in Tripoli. Haftar controls the eastern part of the country, with both Western and Russian officials vying for influence there.<\/p>\n

European leaders have a long history of dealing with Libyan strongmen in an effort to choke off irregular migration from Africa, going back to former leader Moammar Gadhafi<\/a>, who was killed in an uprising in 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the center of the EU\u2019s concern are fears that Putin will do with Libya what he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2740,5108,768,2001,12495,5293,2000,299,5187,1450,4582,2199,97214,6656,23906,24479,6657,770,6658,48,332,6863,1116],"class_list":{"0":"post-281456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-asylum","10":"tag-borders","11":"tag-communications","12":"tag-development","13":"tag-diplomacy","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-european","17":"tag-greece","18":"tag-human-rights","19":"tag-italy","20":"tag-khalifa-haftar","21":"tag-libya","22":"tag-magnus-brunner","23":"tag-malta","24":"tag-migration","25":"tag-poland","26":"tag-refugees","27":"tag-rights","28":"tag-russia","29":"tag-visas","30":"tag-weapons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114894774123275953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}