Despite widespread reports of torture, sexual violence and forced labor in Libya’s detention system, the EU and Italy have continued to support the Libyan coast guard. Rome signed the Italy–Libya Memorandum in 2017, funding and equipping Libyan patrols. The deal, criticized by rights groups, was renewed in 2019 and again in 2023. Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has tightened those ties further, securing an $8 billion gas deal in 2023.
At the same time, the EU has spent more than €91 million on border and migration management in Libya since 2014 as part of a €338 million migration package, while Italy has spent nearly €300 million on containment measures since 2017.
But oversight of these funds remains weak. In a report released in September 2024, the European Court of Auditors warned that more than €5 billion from the EU Trust Fund for Africa had been disbursed with insufficient controls.
Europe’s reliance on Libya is complicated further by rivalries with other powers. Russia has expanded its presence through arms supplies and a planned naval base in Tobruk, while Turkey is accused of cutting maritime deals with Libyan authorities that Greece deems illegal under international law.
In July, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner defended the need for Brussels to activate talks with Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar as a necessary step to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from further weaponizing migration.
“There is certainly a danger that Russia … [will] use migrants and the migration issue as a weapon against Europe,” he told POLITICO. “This weaponization is taking place, and of course we also fear that Russia intends to do the same with Libya.”
In July, Brunner was ejected from Benghazi as “persona non grata” over an apparent breakdown in diplomatic protocol. He had been leading a delegation of senior EU representatives — including ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece — in an attempt to discuss efforts to tackle the flow of migrants into Europe from the country.
