The Czech Republic’s foreign minister has suggested that the European Union consider a military engagement in Libya to reduce the flow of migrants arriving by boat from there to Europe.
Lubomir Zaoralek says that “we must speak very openly what the real instruments are to stabilize Libya.” He told the Austrian Press Agency while in Vienna on Thursday that Europe needs to find a way “to consolidate the country” instead of just waiting for it to happen.
The 2011 overthrow and killing of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi spawned chaos and created a power and security vacuum that turned Libya into a breeding ground for militias and militants. It has also made Libya a gateway for masses of migrants from Africa and elsewhere seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
The Austrian foreign minister says he has told his Italian counterpart that migrants arriving by boat to Italy’s islands should not be permitted to travel on to the mainland because that acts as a gateway for them to the rest of Europe.
Sebastian Kurz says “being saved in the Mediterranean cannot be connected with a ticket to Central Europe.”
He says he told Angelino Alfano that Austria expects an end to ferry traffic transporting migrants to the mainland. He says that if the practice continues, more migrants will make their way northward to other EU countries, “increasing overload for Central Europe” and encouraging others to follow suit.
Kurz suggested Thursday that migrants be stopped at the EU’s outer boundaries and returned after receiving humanitarian and medical help.
(Stranded migrants and refugees hold placards as they protest outside the German Embassy in Athens, on Wednesday, July 19, 2917. About a hundred people, most of them from Syria, marched to protest Germany’s decision to limit number of family reunification from Greece. Petros Giannakouris – AP Photo)
