Ana GOMES (S&D, PT) tabled a proposal for a recommendation to the Council pursuant to Rule 121(1) of the Rules of Procedure, on the ongoing negotiations on EU-Libya Framework Agreement.
The proposed Recommendation states that despite persisting dictatorial rule, Libya has expanding trade and political relations with EU Member States and plays a role as a partner for the EU in the Mediterranean region and in Africa across a wide range of issues, notably migration, development, climate change, security and stability, including countering the spread of extremism, and energy security.
The Framework Agreement currently under negotiation covers a wide range of areas, from strengthening political dialogue to developing trade relations and improving cooperation in various sectors.
The proposal recalls the importance of the respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, as well as opposition to the death penalty, are fundamental EU principles. It indicates that Libya has ratified a number of international agreements are regards the protection of human rights which has created specific international legal obligations for this country.
Against this background, Parliament addresses, in the context of the ongoing Framework Agreement negotiations, the following recommendations to the Council:
- the possibility to give Parliament access to the mandate issued to the Commission to start the negotiations on a Framework Agreement between the EU and Libya, in accordance with the TFEU, which states that Parliament must be immediately and fully informed at all stages of the procedure;
- to insist that Libya ratifies the Geneva Convention on Refugees of 1951 and recommends offering assistance to Libya in order to implement its accompanying measures;
- to request that the Libyan authorities grant UNHCR a legal presence in the country, with a mandate to exercise its full range of protection activities;
- to cease pursuing a readmission agreement with Libya, as sending individuals back to a country with a record of continuous human rights violations and the use of the death penalty would be in breach of EU legal obligations to protect human rights (in parallel, it calls on the Council to offer refugees identified in Libya a programme of resettlement in EU Member States and to propose measures to address the problem of trafficking of human beings in the region, with special attention to the protection of women and children);
- to pursue an agreement on a moratorium on the death penalty in Libya, leading to its abolition, and to call on the Libyan authorities to release information and statistics on the persons executed in Libya since 2008;
- to strengthen regional synergies on sustainable development and environmental matters, such as climate change, water scarcity and desertification;
- to consider that a Framework Agreement should include assistance on institutional capacity-building as a means to strengthen civil society, to support Libyan modernisation efforts, to encourage democratic reforms and to open up political space;
- to establish an EU delegation in Tripoli.