Internal Affairs Commissioner seeks new migration deals in Libya

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner is expected to travel to Libya in the coming days to meet with the two competing Libyan authorities. Accompanied by delegates from Malta, Greece and Italy, Brunner is expected to seek more cooperation on irregular migration control, namely stopping people trying to reach Europe.

With the Commission desperate to further reduce arrivals, recent comments from Brunner about the alleged ‘instrumentalisation’ of migration in Libya may hint at a future strategy.

Brunner was apparently ordered by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to make the trip, as part of a ‘Team Europe’ approach. “Team Europe” refers to a collaborative approach adopted by the European Union (EU) and its member states, along with financial institutions like the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

“We need to maintain close cooperation (with Libya) and continue providing financial and operational support to the Libyan authorities, particularly as regards search and rescue operations,” said von der Leyen in a letter to EU ministers. Irregular arrivals across the Central Mediterranean route remain low after decreasing by more than half in 2024, though with a slight increase recently as Libya becomes once again the main point of departure.

Europe and Libya cooperation: still room to grow

Since 2024, the EU has stepped up its pre-existing cooperation with Libya on migration, with a new ‘technical dialogue’ involving Libyan coastal and related authorities. The cooperation has long been criticised by human rights advocates, who argue it is a way for the EU to ‘outsource’ its migration control, circumventing humanitarian obligations and leaving vulnerable people exposed to extreme danger, exploitation and abuse. This cooperation includes the sharing of migrant boats’ locations with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, which is known to comprise criminal and militia-linked groups.

At the same time, Italy renewed its long-standing multi-million euro migration deal with Libya in 2023, involving cooperation on patrolling the Mediterranean and in particular the interception and return of people fleeing Libya. A discussion paper from an EU Council of Ministers committee – obtained by rights NGO Statewatch – notes that “the EU indirectly supports these efforts through training and equipment for Libyan authorities, despite documented human rights abuses in detention centres.”

In 2024, both the European Ombudsman and the Court of Auditors issued reports warning that the EU does not – in fact is unable to – conduct the necessary due diligence and monitoring to ensure human rights are protected within its external migration partnerships.

The Libya deal – as well as similar partnerships with Tunisia and Egypt – complements other recent Commission moves to reduce the amount of irregular migrants in Europe. These include laying the legal groundwork for future deportation centres outside the bloc, the creation of a list of countries considered safe enough to deport people, as well as the removal of safeguards such as a ban on deporting people to countries they have no connection to.

Now, comments from Brunner suggest the spectre of weaponised – or ‘instrumentalised’ – migration might be invoked in Libya to justify more restrictive measures.

‘Instrumentalisation’ – a term much in vogue in Brussels since 2021 – is when a country intentionally shepherds or forces irregular migrants over the border of another, in order to overwhelm infrastructure and sow political discord. The term has to date mostly been used to describe the alleged ‘hybrid warfare’ carried out in recent years by Belarus, apparently at the behest of Russia. Increases of irregular arrivals at the EU’s eastern borders (particularly with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia) have been attributed to Belarus’ design. Now, says Brunner, Belarus is doing the same thing in Libya.

“We see now that Belarus and Russia (are) deporting people to Libya in order to get them to the European Union,” said Brunner in a conversation at the European Policy Centre last Thursday. “The Polish border, the whole of the Finnish border and the Baltic borders are closed. So they are pushing them towards Libya, and there is even an airline from Belarus, bringing migrants deliberately to Libya in order to have them coming to the European Union. And that’s not acceptable.”

There is evidence to support the allegations of migration ‘instrumentalisation’ by Belarus at its border with the EU, and Belarus and Russia have well-known relationships with authorities in Libya – particularly the de facto Haftar leadership in the East – which includes involvement in people smuggling. There is however little apparent evidence to support Brunner’s allegation of Belarus and Russia using Libya specifically as a vector for instrumentalisation, outside of a handful of reports of ‘worries’ that such instrumentalisation might be planned.

Several researchers contacted about it said they were unaware of any such activity. One called it “a stretch,” though conceded it is in theory possible, and suggested Brunner may be referring to deportations flights of Libyan nationals.

Instrumentalisation: the ‘next step’ for the EU in Libya?

Brunner’s invoking of ‘instrumentalisation’ in Libya raises the possibility that the Commission is considering tougher measures in the Mediterranean, as has happened on the EU’s eastern flank.

‘Weaponised’ or ‘instrumentalised’ migration has been invoked by various EU member states to justify stricter measures preventing people reaching European territory to claim asylum, rather than providing safe routes for them to do so. Under the pretext of Belarus’ ‘instrumentalisation,’ Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have heavily militarised their borders, and border authorities from all three have been accused of engaging in violent expulsions – known as pushbacks – of vulnerable people back across the border. The European Court of Human Rights is currently hearing cases brought against the three for the alleged pushbacks. When Poland suspended the right to asylum in its territory in March 2025, the country was praised by Commissioner Brunner for acting as “Europe’s first line of defence,” in the context of instrumentalisation, even as human rights groups and the UNHCR condemned Poland’s move.

Human rights advocates asked about Brunner’s comments on ‘instrumentalisation’ in Libya have expressed concern over where it’s all headed. One advocate in Brussels wondered privately if this is the “next step” in the Commission’s Mediterranean strategy, “an attempt to justify further derogations or restrictions on asylum on this route.” Dr Maurice Stierl, at Osnabrück’s Institute for Migration Research at University in Germany, went further.

“The weaponisation and securitisation of migration has a long history,” says Stierl, “and the hybrid warfare narrative pushed by EU Commissioner Brunner is just the latest attempt to justify European deterrence efforts in places like Libya, where the humanitarian situation is unimaginable for those stuck there.”

Caption: Magnus Brunner during the 29th Annual Government Roundtable “Walking steadily across a tightrope of uncertainty”, Athens, 1 July 2025, Europe by Satellite