By Tarek Megerisi
LONDON
On July 25, Emmanuel Macron began the largest foreign policy endeavor of his nascent presidency by convening a meeting between the leaders of Libya’s two largest factions.
Although it was projected as an attempt to broker peace and move the war-torn country towards some form of stability, Europe’s migration crisis doubtlessly played an important part in Macron’s prioritizing of Libya.
Refugees, and migration from across the Mediterranean more generally, have evolved into an existential fear across France and Europe. The ever-growing number of migrants crossing the sea and the lack of a cohesive policy to manage it have left Europe feeling out of control; an insecurity which right-wing parties, including France’s Front National, have heavily drawn from in their war against the establishment.
Macron's new refugee policy
The migration angle of Macron’s Libya policy made itself apparent a few days after the meeting. At a citizenship ceremony in Orleans, Macron surprised his European counterparts by announcing a new initiative.
Although his policy pronouncement was light on detail, it revolved around creating ‘hotspots’ in Libya (and eventually, Niger and Chad) where refugees and migrants could have their asylum claims pre-processed in lieu of making the dangerous sea crossing.
This policy is an expansion of previous statements where he sought to distinguish between war refugees and economic migrants.
More widely, it can be viewed as a continuation of France’s unilateral attempts to insulate itself from the crisis. France remains a long way from fulfilling its quota of migrants, as per a 2015 EU refugee relocation scheme.
Moreover, it refused to allow asylum seekers rescued in the Mediterranean to disembark at French ports, and even recently returned 200 migrants who had circumvented their border defenses by crossing over the sea.
This latest iteration of France’s travails with refugees, of which the attempt to make peace in Libya plays an integral role, appears shallow, tinged with populism and seems more likely to exacerbate the situation than being a foundation of its solution.
Over-burdened Libya
Macron’s speech in Orleans suggests this policy is built upon two flawed tenants. Firstly, that the people-smuggling gangs who operate with impunity in Libya are the drivers, rather than merely the profiteers, of this phenomenon and so secure hotspots in Libya would prevent them from pushing migrants into making the crossing.
This ignores the reality that migrants and refugees began traveling from Libya to Europe well before the Arab Spring revolution which plunged the North African state into anarchy. Indeed, preventing such migration was one of Gaddafi’s favored diplomatic tools in Europe.
Given that it is not the traffickers, but rather an intrinsically human quest for a dignified life which drives so many into risking their lives on the high seas it is difficult to see how this policy could succeed.
Even if the precondition for these hotspots -- of brokering peace and inaugurating a stable government with strong security institutions in Libya -- is achieved, which is far from likely, it will not remove any of the long-standing incentives for this migration.
Additionally, is the unjust and incorrect assertion that the majority of those crossing are solely economic migrants who have no asylum rights and so their claims can be processed on African soil without them needlessly risking their lives on the crossing.
Although a majority are not fleeing war, they retain valid causes for seeking international protection such as fleeing persecution or being victims of trafficking abuses.
Moreover, such a position dubiously sidesteps the non-refoulment principle of international law which prevents the return of people to a place where they risk torture and ill-treatment. A principle which was affirmed in a 2012 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights against Italy for transferring migrants back to Libya.
Given the policy’s flawed foundations it's only possible success would be a potentially inhumane transferral of the problem onto Libya’s already over-burdened shoulders rather than any holistic and durable solution.
Tension between Italy, Libya
This policy’s unconsidered nature, along with Macron’s bullish announcement that he would proceed with or without Europe has made it the cause of considerable controversy.
Italy has been perhaps most slighted by Macron’s unilateral moves, with the Italian foreign minister labeling the Libya policy a distraction from the UN process, and the deputy foreign minister lamenting that France doesn’t seem willing to “help us concretely” in tackling the migration crisis.
Italy has long felt abandoned on the ‘front-lines’ of the Libyan and migration crises by its European partners and Macron’s recent policies have only heightened these frustrations.
Italy’s refugee centers and shelters are already at capacity, processing some 200,000 migrants, and refugees while its European neighbors heavily police their borders to block any potential asylum seeker from crossing.
Meanwhile, there has been another increase this year in the number of arrivals, with almost 100,000 having made the journey to-date. This combination of a worsening crisis and a lack of support from other European states is leading Italy to continue its own policies to attempt to contain and control the situation.
Within the last week, the Italian parliament has passed a bill providing a ‘code of conduct’ to NGOs performing search and rescue missions and authorized the deployment of two naval vessels to attempt to contain this issue within Libyan waters.
However, five out of eight NGOs running such operations have refused to sign the code of conduct, claiming it could risk lives and violate their neutrality, whilst Libyans have protested Italy’s encroachment into their waters and criticized their attempts to keep migrants within Libya.
It is worth noting that a coordinated and centralized EU policy on migration is a relatively new development which has occurred over the past two years, previous to this such policy was the preserve of independent member-states.
It could also be argued that it is within this earlier period that the foundations of the current crisis, as well as the incorrect assumptions which buttress modern policy towards this crisis, were formulated.
The tight restrictions on work visas which began in the 1990s were the precursor to the current demonization of economic migrants, and it is the closure of this safe and legal route which incentivized desperate people into the much more dangerous journeys they take today.
As France and Italy pursue unilateral and limited solutions to this crisis, they risk fracturing the continental approach to this issue to the detriment of all concerned.
The shallow policies and attempts at short-term solutions advanced unilaterally by Macron and Italy are incapable of giving control over what is a worsening crisis, which in turn will only lead to increasing public pressure over this issue and more unilateral yet inevitably limited efforts.
To escape this cycle, EU member-states, which individually do not have the means to comprehensively solve this crisis, must work together on a coordinated policy.
However, unless other European leaders can constrain Macron’s headstrong independence and evolve his policy, the refugee crisis and Europe’s capacity to manage it will only continue to deteriorate.
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.
