Libya, Minniti: “Act quickly, the Mediterranean is decisive for the future of Europe”

In Libya it is necessary to intervene soon: in a long interview with Die Welt, the former Minister of the Interior Marco Minniti returns to the Italy-Libya Memorandum on migrants, to the situation of the landings of the time, and stops to reflect on the role that Europe it is called to play in the Mediterranean. “After 2018 – he explains, answering a question on the new increase in migratory flows – the discussion has moved back to Europe and the issue of internal redistribution. However, it will not be possible to find a consensus on the modification of the Dublin Treaty if the Africa’s challenge will not be accepted first “. “Meanwhile, while Europe was divided into Brussels, Turkey and Russia arrived in Libya. This is an epochal geopolitical change, unimaginable. If someone had told me in 2017 that the Turks and Russians would have arrived in Libya, there would be no I would have believed. “” In Europe we focus so often on the East and its challenges. But Russia and Turkey, two ‘powers of the East’, are now in Libya and Syria. The EU must recognize that the balances in the Mediterranean are changing. We will have to deal with this for decades. ” And this “because Europe has not yet fully understood that the enlarged central Mediterranean region will be of decisive significance for its future”. According to Minniti, the way forward for Europe is “first of all to propose a pact for migration and economic development to Tunisia and Libya. We must act quickly. There can be no postponement”. “At the same time it is important to invite Libya and Tunisia to step up the fight against human traffickers”. “If we do not act soon, it will be difficult to hold elections in Libya on December 24. And if there are no elections, the risk is very high that tensions will rise again. There is a possibility that Libya will be divided into a zone of Turkish influence and a Russian one. The Syrian model. It would be a very heavy defeat for Europe. Another Afghanistan “.