EU parliament head in Libya urges ‘blacklist’ of traffickers

TRIPOLI, Libya — European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani in Libya on Monday called for a “blacklist” of people smugglers to be set up to help stem the flow of migrants from Africa to Europe.

The European Union is grappling with the issue of migration from Africa and the Middle East and hammered out a controversial plan last week to curb the number of arrivals.

People traffickers in North Africa have taken advantage of chaos in Libya since the 2011 ouster of Muammar Gadhafi to send people on the perilous voyage northward across the Mediterranean Sea.

“We have to establish a blacklist of the major traffickers, ... so that police and law enforcement in Africa and in Europe can work together on a common objective,” Tajani said after meeting the head of Libya’s internationally backed government in Tripoli.

“If we do not manage to destroy these criminal organizations, it will be very difficult to fight against illegal immigration.”

Italy and Greece have until now recorded the biggest numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach the EU.

Refugee centers

Tajani also suggested that refugee centers be set up “on the border between Niger and Libya” which could separate out genuine asylumseekers from “economic migrants”.

But with the route through Libya shutting down as the country’s Coast Guard increases patrols, people smugglers are setting their sights westward to routes from Morocco to Spain.

Libya is split between rival factions, with the UN-backed Government of National Accord under Fayez al-Sarraj in Tripoli opposed by strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east of the country.

Meanwhile, Tajani stressed Europe’s support for the upcoming elections in Libya by “establishing a technical European-Libyan cooperation and sending a European delegation to monitor the upcoming elections to assure their integrity”.

France hosted in May a meeting on Libya with the participation of different Libyan parties to end the political crisis in the country.

The parties agreed to hold and commit themselves to “credible” presidential and parliamentary elections slated for Dec 10.

Tajani also said that the EU intends to send medical experts to Libya to provide urgent medical assistance for Libyan children and transfer difficult cases to Europe for treatment.