The 27 governments still have to draft a legal text for the mission, after agreeing it in principle in Brussels.
”The main objective is the arms embargo,” said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
The UN-recognised government in Tripoli is under attack from the forces of Gen Khalifa Haftar, which control most of eastern and southern Libya. The EU’s new naval and air mission is to operate in the eastern Mediterranean, away from the migrant-smuggling routes from Libya which have caused bitter divisions in the EU. Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said that if the EU ships proved to be a ”pull factor” for migrants desperate to reach Europe ”the mission will be stopped”. Läs artikel