European Union foreign ministers announced that they have agreed to start a new mission in the Mediterranean, to monitor the implementation of the United Nations arms embargo on Libya which is repeatedly violated.

Today, Monday, the 27 member states of the Union agreed to provide seven aircraft and seven ships for the mission.

"The European Union will deploy ships in the area east of Libya to prevent arms smuggling, but if the mission leads to an influx of migrant boats it will be suspended," said Italian Foreign Minister Luigi de Mayo in Brussels. His German and Austrian counterparts confirmed the agreement on the new mission.

"The European Union is committed to an air and sea mission, and there is a part of it on the ground, to ban the entry of weapons into Libya," de Mayo said, adding that the mission is not to revive the Sofia operation and will be deployed on the east coast of Libya where arms are being smuggled.

Important and rejected
European countries, including Italy and Austria, rejected the maritime side of this mission, and considered that it would make the smugglers push more migrants to the sea, forcing the maritime surveillance force to save them.

The Sofia operation to control illegal immigration and arms embargoes to Libya was extended to March 31, 2020, but was no longer active at sea after member states withdrew their ships. This came because Italy refused to allow the rescued migrants to be landed on its soil, due to the lack of agreement among member states to sponsor them.

Austria views the Sofia operation as "an entry ticket to Europe for thousands of illegal immigrants" and refuses to accept the return of European ships to the region.

Before agreeing on the new mission, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg had said upon his arrival in Brussels that "the Sofia process no longer exists. We need a military operation, not a humanitarian operation."

"Our position is not an obstruction, but we are at the start of a very important process of negotiations and talks," he said.