By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 8 October 2014:
The new European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs has said the . . .[restrict]EU must deal with Libya if it is not to be the next country to fall to extremism.
Making her first speech to the European Parliament in Brussels, Frederica Mogherini said ISIL, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State, constituted a major global crisis which threatened Europe and the whole world. “We will need to pay major attention to Libya, which risks being the next in line,” she said.
She added that within the country she sees “a big EU role to be played together with the UN and the neighbouring countries”.
Mogherini, currently Italy’s Foreign Minister, said Europe needed to be more active with regard to the Middle East and its southern neighbours, rather than simply writing cheques. “The EU has been an effective payer and needs to become an effective player,” she said.
The new representative who is due to replace Catherine Ashton as the EU’s “foreign minister” once her appointment by the European Parliament is confirmed, said that regional success stories needed to play a role in how the international community approached Libya and its neighbours. “Tunisia comes to mind, but also Morocco. We will need to work a lot with regard to the south, and to the southern neighbours of our southern neighbours,” she said.
Mogherni will hold the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Policy for the next five years. She told the European parliamentarians that her primary goal was to create “a common vision and a common strategy” across Europe’s member states.
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