It was a page two type of news piece from today, which I noted, and it has serious implications over the EU situation with migrants being 'rescued' in the Med.
So Italy is having discussions with Libya (no, the EU is not in the middle of this, and they are being left out). What Italy wants to do....is provide training and funding to 'beef-up' the Libyan Coast Guard. Basically, they want them to be proactive and go pick up the rubber-raft people....before the European rescue vessels get there. They would drag the crowd back to the Libyan coast.
Added to the story....Italy has also decided to have a chat with Tunisia (the next-door neighbor of Libya). Same story there, I would assume.
How much would it cost? Unknown....no one is talking money.
If the Libyans suddenly start to cooperate with Italy and get to the rubber-raft crowd before the European rescue vessels? Suddenly the balance would change, and a lot fewer folks would be 'rescued'. They would be dragged back to Libya.
The smuggler business? If you suddenly had a thousand folks a month who paid a thousand-dollars for this European rescue business.....instead being rescued by the Libyans and dragged back....then the sales pitch by the Libyan smugglers would drop like a rock.
The EU? They aren't saying much and I'm guessing they'd really like to hamper the Italians in this 'game'. But the smugglers might be smart enough to move their operations to Egypt, or Algeria....hoping that the Africans would just pack up and move to the new smuggling center.
A curious development, which could cause a massive change to the asylum 'game'.
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