Members of Italy’s Five Star Movement party in the Senate Defense and Foreign Affairs committees confirmed that they are waiting for greater participation from the European Union in controlling migration flows coming from Libya.
The Italian Senators affirmed that the Five Star Movement has always urged the continuation of cooperation with Libya, “Italy cannot suspend its cooperation with the Libyan authorities,” the party said in a statement on Sunday. “That is why we voted today to approve the continuation of the mission to support the Coast Guard and Libyan Navy,” it added.
They warned of the negative repercussions in the event of non-continuity of support for the Libyan Coast Guard, saying that this would cause “an increase in the number of irregular migration boat flows from the coasts of Tripoli. Suspending assistance to the Libyan authorities would cause a vacuum that other countries would rush to fill, this would cause great harm to the role that Italy can play in Libya’s future.”
However, the party stressed that protecting human rights remains a primary goal of the Five Star Movement, “the situation will not improve by turning back from what is happening there and withdrawing,” the statement concluded.