European Commission Rejects Suggestions of Turkey-Style Migrant Deal for Libya

The European Union is not looking to offer Libya a deal similar to the bloc’s agreement with Turkey on migration, EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Last week, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called for the Turkey deal to be replicated in the central Mediterranean to minimize the flow of illegal migration from Libya.

“The two situations are completely different, the two countries, the two main countries are completely different, the composition of the [migrant] flow is completely different, and the set of measures are completely different. So there is no comparison that can be done,” Mogherini said.

Mogherini instead announced that 200 million euros ($215 million) will be allocated to the EU Trust Fund for Africa, with a view to decrease migration across the central Mediterranean between the European Union and Libya. The money will in part be used to expand the EU’s training program for the Libyan coastguard, and to develop a program of voluntary returns, helping some of the displaced migrants stranded in Libya return to their country of origin.

In March 2016, the European Union agreed on a deal with Turkey, in which the latter pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who come ashore in Greece if EU countries receive Syrian refugees resettled from Turkish camps on a one-for-one basis.

Since 2011, Libya has been in a state of turmoil, which has resulted in an outflow of refugees from the country. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), there are up to one million migrants from Egypt, Niger and Sudan, currently in Libya. Many Libyans, and individuals fleeing repressive regimes, instability and poverty across north and sub-Saharan Africa, choose to embark on dangerous routes to the European continent via the Mediterranean Sea.