Following the trip of several Home and Foreign Ministers and the Head of the European Council last week to Tripoli, the Italian and Greek Prime Ministers paid an official visit to Libya on Tuesday 6 April. They discussed economic and security issues as well as their bilateral cooperation with the new Libyan leadership. This double visit is further proof of Europe’s great interest in the political rise of this country.
Since Tripoli, his first visit abroad, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said his visit was “proof of the importance of historic relations” between Libya and Italy. The opportunity to “rebuild an old friendship and a closeness that has never felt a pause,” he said.
Reactivation of Italian investments in Libya and the 2017 agreement on the interception of migrants by the Libyan coast guard were discussed. Mario Draghi has also announced that he is happy with the “rescue operations” carried out outside Libya.
Italy, a former colonial power, is for Libya a leading trading partner, especially in hydrocarbons, with a significant presence of the Italian giant ENI.
In the case of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his trip to the Libyan capital, according to his government spokesman, aims to “normalize and restore” diplomatic relations. Maritime delimitation signed in 2019 between Turkey and Libya, which had angered Greece and the European Union, was at the heart of its discussions. However, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah is sticking to this economic agreement, which he says “preserves Libya’s rights” to hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Libyan authorities announced on Monday the establishment of a National Reconciliation Commission, which will be responsible for restoring social peace under Geneva’s political agreement. This message was welcomed by the UN while no member has yet been appointed.
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