EU MONITOR: The EU’s military engagement in Central Mediterranean – Migrant crisis and arms embargo intertwined

In the new EU Monitor Vojtěch Freitag writes about the ongoing EU’s military mission in the Central Mediterranean Sea called EUNAVFOR MED Irini. The article attempts to overview, critically reflect and present recommendations for the issues connected to it.

Notwithstanding EU’s efforts, Sophia had not achieved the prevention  ofillicit  arms flows. In  fact,  it  could  not  possibly  be successful  as  the  sea  is  not the only  entry point  into  the vast country.  Failure  of  the embargo has  been  recently  confirmed  also by  the  UN  expert  panel  on  Libya, which claimed “total ineffectiveness”. However, the termination of the operation was caused by concerns  deemed  of greater  importance to the member-states than the arms embargo –the question of rescuing and disembarking migrants, an aspect fitting into general EU’s immigration policy debate.

The complete artcle is available in PDF below.

Vojtěch Freitag

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