In a video posted on Facebook on Monday, the foreign minister said the European Union should provide assistance to Libya so that the country could protect its borders against illegal migration.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, met his Libyan counterpart in Luxembourg, and said after the talks that Libya had become a transit country for “tens and hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants heading for Europe”. Concerning Libya’s upcoming general elections, Minister Szijjártó said the elections offered a “chance for stability and peace”.
The minister criticized “various NGOs and so-called human rights groups” that he said were “trying to prevent the Libyan government from fighting illegal migration”. Minister Szijjártó noted that the Visegrad Group had offered 35 million euros in 2017 in donation to reinforce Libya’s coastal guard but suggested that the funds were delayed “because of Brussels”. “The European Union should put together a serious financial package to promote controls along the southern borders of Libya,” Minister Szijjártó said.