Member of the European Parliament Mounir Satouri has strongly criticised the European Union’s continued funding of Libya’s Coast Guard, calling it “a moral stain on Europe” following an attack on the rescue ship Ocean Viking in international waters.
Writing in Politico, Satouri condemned the EU’s support for the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG), which he said had “opened fire without warning” on the humanitarian vessel, risking the lives of 34 aid workers and 87 survivors. The LCG boat used in the attack, he added, was one of several transferred from Italy under an EU-funded programme.
“The European Commission cannot fund parties involved in human rights abuses,” Satouri wrote, recalling that the European Ombudsman had already accused the Commission of maladministration for refusing to publish its Libya programme impact assessments. Despite complaints filed in Italy and mounting pressure from civil society, he said, EU cooperation with the LCG “continues unabated”.
Satouri warned that Europe’s border policies had empowered “militias that kidnap people on the high seas and return them to places where they are tortured, raped, enslaved and sometimes killed”. He stressed that the issue went beyond migration, affecting maritime security and global trade routes across the Mediterranean.
The MEP noted that even Italian fishing boats and humanitarian flotillas had come under fire from LCG units, while EU funding had reportedly strengthened militias involved in both border control and smuggling operations.
Calling for a “new Pact for the Mediterranean”, Satouri urged Brussels to stop financing Libyan security forces and instead support coordinated European-led rescue efforts and legal migration routes. “The way to constrain an out-of-control actor isn’t to reward and enable their behaviour,” he concluded.
