Labour MEP requests UN envoy to include immigration in Libya peace talks

Labour MEP Miriam Dalli has written on Bernardino Leon, the head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, asking for immigration to be prioritised in the ongoing Libyan peace talks.

The letter asks for migration to be placed at the top of the agenda of a future National Unity government in Libya, and for measures to control people traffickers and stop migrant deaths in the Mediterranean to be form an integral part of a Libyan peace treaty. “That way, those involved with be bound to take action on the matter,” Dalli said. “The momentum developing in the last few days on the issue must not be allowed to fade away.”

64 other MEPs have also signed Dalli’s letter to Leon.

In a second letter to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Dalli and her 64 MEP cohorts appealed for immigration to form part of the solution for the Libya crisis.

A similar letter was also sent to the Vice President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini who is also the European Union highest representative for Foreign Affairs. Dalli and the other MEPs are appealing to Mogherini as a top EU diplomat to ensure that immigration forms part of the solution for Libya.

“I am very satisfied that this initiative has found the support of 64 other MEPs, who come from the six biggest groups in the European Parliament,” Dalli said. “This clearly indicates that we are creating an awareness among MEPs so that the situation that we are continuously facing in the Mediterranean is urgently addressed.”

‘EU migration plan too vague’

Dalli also criticised the ten-point action plan agreed to on Monday by EU foreign ministers as being “too vague, and lacking details and specific timelines”.

'The plan needs to be far more specific,” Dalli said. “For example, while one proposal suggests that the EU Triton rescue and search area is extended, there is no indication as to how far this should go. It is also disappointing that the ten-point plan makes no mention of any changes to The Dublin Treaty whereby immigrants are forced to remain in the country where they embark.

“These countries are logically the countries on the frontier with North Africa. On the other hand, the insistence on targeting human traffickers is very positive.”

An urgent European Council summit has been set for Thursday to discuss this plan and decide what steps to take, after two recent Mediterranean shipwrecks resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 migrants.