The great Benghazi blunder: How a Libyan warlord humiliated Brussels  

BRUSSELS — When a delegation of top European ministers and officials landed in the summer heat of Libya to discuss migration with a Russia-backed warlord, they found they had flown into a political ambush. 

Waiting on the plane at Benghazi, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner alongside senior ministers from Italy, Greece and Malta, discovered that the talks they had planned with Khalifa Haftar had been gatecrashed. Without the Europeans’ agreement, two senior ministers from Haftar’s administration in the east of the country had turned up to meet them too. 

The problem was that this eastern Libyan “government” is not regarded as legitimate by the U.N. — and meeting Haftar’s ministers would have been tantamount to giving them the EU’s seal of approval. That, many on the European side believe, was Haftar’s goal all along. 

What followed was a diplomatic fiasco for the ages. 

Apparently enraged by the Europeans’ attitude, the 81 year-old Haftar threw them all out of town without any talks on migration taking place. The EU’s attempt to address people-smuggling gangs operating across the Mediterranean was in disarray, as officials on all sides blamed each other for the mess. 

Based on interviews with multiple people familiar with Tuesday’s debacle, all of whom were granted anonymity in order to speak candidly, POLITICO can reveal the full story of the disagreement that derailed the EU’s mission to solve the crisis at its southern border. 

Behind it all lurks a deeper warning for Europe, with the suspicion that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is finding new ways to cause trouble in the region. 

Team Europe 

Undocumented migration is a critical challenge for the EU’s capacity to address voters’ concerns about border security, and tackling the route from North Africa to Greece and Italy has long been among the most difficult tests for Brussels. 

Brunner’s trip was meant to display what EU officials like to call “Team Europe” in action, tackling the migration crisis. Team Europe is Brussels-speak for a combined diplomatic show of force in which the EU’s most powerful institutions — such as the Commission and the European Investment Bank — work with member countries “so that our joint external action becomes more than the sum of its parts.”

Brunner boarded a plane with Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Byron Camilleri, the Maltese home affairs minister. Their first destination in Libya was Tripoli, home of the internationally recognized Government of National Unity. 

While no deal was struck on tackling migration, the conversation was cordial and the meeting progressed smoothly and according to plan. Then they landed at Benghazi’s Benina International Airport — and the trouble began. 

The envoy

EU ambassador Nicola Orlando cuts a dash on the diplomatic scene in Libya with his shaven head, square-rimmed spectacles and neat, navy blue suits. He has a long acquaintance with the country, having previously served as Italy’s deputy ambassador in Tripoli, and it had been his job to set up the meetings. 

Orlando and his companions knew the risks of dealing with Haftar: The warlord controls the Libyan National Army and has been de facto ruler of eastern Libya since 2017, running the region as a military dictatorship, with some support from Russia. The EU has never had an institutional relationship with his administration. 

When the Europeans’ plane taxied to its stand at Benghazi, to be unexpectedly welcomed by two of Haftar’s ministers, Orlando was in the firing line. 

The Italian, Greek and Maltese ministers told him to get off the plane on his own, and go and talk to Haftar’s side. On no account must the European delegation of ministers and officials be photographed with Haftar’s representatives, they all agreed. That would send an international signal that the EU was recognizing an administration most of the world does not regard as legitimate. 

Orlando trudged off on his own to speak to the two eastern Libyan ministers in person and Haftar’s office by phone. Eventually, they assured him that the Europeans, who had remained stuck on board their plane, could disembark and wait, out of the sun, in the airport’s more comfortable VIP lounge, promising that nobody would be photographed in the process. 

Breaking promises

The Libyans immediately broke that assurance, too, and began taking pictures of the Europeans and the Libyan ministers as they waited to discover if the talks could begin. 

As Orlando continued trying to rescue the situation, it became clear that Haftar was not happy. He wanted that photo of his ministers meeting some of the most senior politicians from the EU, including Brunner, the commissioner. 

In the end, the EU side proposed a compromise. Despite their reservations about the eastern Libyan regime, they would go ahead and hold a meeting with Haftar’s ministers present — but only on the condition that no photograph would be released showing it had taken place. 

Haftar apparently then became angry, declared Brunner “persona non grata” and ordered all the Europeans to get back on their plane and leave. 

The debacle triggered immediate recriminations. How could the EU side put themselves in a position where Haftar could ambush them with a camera lens in pursuit of international recognition? If they knew there were risks, why didn’t they prepare better? 

Blame game

Brussels got the blame, with officials from Rome and Athens privately suggesting the EU team had let the rest of them down. Within the EU’s own institutions, some Commission insiders were also quietly critical of how it had been handled, with the finger of suspicion pointing at the bloc’s diplomatic arm, the European External Action Service. 

According to some involved, the risks of Haftar setting a trap were known but they decided to try their luck and hope to be able to work it out in person on the ground if anything went wrong. 

“Brussels and the rest of the Europeans are fully aware that the commissioner and ministers walked into a trap in a desperate attempt to appease Haftar over his migration blackmail,” said one person familiar with the discussion in Brussels. “Now the Commission and Italy, which came up with the mission at the worst possible time, are under attack, with others opposed to further concessions and capitulations to Haftar, a staunch ally of Russia.”

On Friday, the Commission confirmed that Team Europe would try again. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed with the leaders of Italy, Greece and Malta to keep pressing when they met on the sidelines of a Ukraine support summit in Rome on Thursday. 

A Commission spokesperson said von der Leyen and the other leaders agreed “to continue to engage with Libya and to pursue the Team Europe approach including by resending the Team Europe delegation to Libya to continue the visit.” The idea, the spokesperson suggested, would be to engage with “both sides” in Libya, the implication being that this would include the Haftar-ruled east. 

It’s not clear exactly when the new mission to Libya will take place or who will be on board the plane next time.

One major risk is that Putin’s Russia now sees eastern Libya and its migration routes across the Mediterranean as an irresistible opportunity to destabilize the EU. Haftar has held multiple meetings with Russian ministers and his army has received support from the Russian military.

“No one really knows what to do,” said the same person familiar with the discussions quoted above. “But it’s clear that appeasement isn’t working and that Haftar will keep asking for more, thus advancing Russian interests in Libya in exchange for a handful fewer migrants landing in Crete.”