The European Union’s efforts to secure its external borders have been questioned after a Libyan naval vessel opened fire on a French ship that was rescuing migrants.
Although no one was killed or injured, the incident has led to a major political row in Italy, which gave the Libyans the boat as part of an EU program.
On Aug. 24, the Ocean Viking, a ship belonging to the French NGO SOS Méditerranée, came under fire in international waters about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.
The Ocean Viking had just rescued 87 people from a rubber dinghy when a Libyan coast guard patrol boat approached and opened fire at close range.
“Without any warning or ultimatum, two men aboard the patrol vessel opened fire on our humanitarian ship, unleashing at least 20 relentless minutes of assault gunfire directly at us,” the NGO said in a statement, denouncing what it called a “violent and deliberate attack.”
The vessel sustained serious damage: shattered windows, broken antennnae, bullet holes in the bridge and destroyed rescue equipment. Prosecutors in Siracusa, Sicily have opened a criminal investigation into the attack. Last week, police boarded the Ocean Viking in the town of Augusta in Sicily, where the 87 rescued migrants disembarked, to inspect the damage and gather testimony.
According to SOS Méditerranée, the boat that attacked them was a Corrubia-class patrol vessel built in Italy and given to Libya in 2023 under the EU Border Assistance Mission in Libya program, part of Europe’s strategy of outsourcing border control.
During the attack, the Ocean Viking crew issued a mayday call and alerted NATO, which referred them to the Italian navy. “However, the Italian Navy never answered the phone,” the NGO said in its statement.
Valeria Taurino, the director of SOS Méditerranée Italy, called for “a thorough investigation” into the incident and an end to European cooperation with Libya. “An entity that makes illegal claims in international waters, obstructs rescues, and attacks unarmed humanitarian operators cannot be considered a competent authority,” she said.
After the 87 rescued people left the ship, the Ocean Viking and its crew were held in isolation for several days on health grounds, as one of those rescued tested positive for tuberculosis. On Friday the NGO announced the Italian authorities had finally lifted the quarantine, allowing the crew to disembark.
The Italian government — led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — has been clamping down on NGOs as part of its drive to reduce migration. On Monday another rescue ship — the Mediterranea — was placed under administrative detention after it let 10 migrants disembark in Trapani — the nearest safe port — instead of following Interior Ministry orders to sail to Genoa, some 770 kilometers away.
The move reflects stricter rules introduced in 2023 by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, which require that NGO ships notify authorities after a rescue and then sail immediately to a designated port, often hundreds of kilometers away. Critics say the measure cripples rescue operations by forcing vessels to make long detours.
“It’s like forcing a burn victim to remain in the flames,” said Laura Marmorale, president of Mediterranea Saving Humans, denouncing the policy as “inhumane” and “unacceptable.”
The incidents have led to sharp criticism of the Italian government. Opposition leader Elly Schlein of the Democratic Party urged the government to end its migration deal with Libya, while Green Europe lawmaker Angelo Bonelli condemned the use of Italian-built boats to launch attacks on NGOs. He denounced Meloni’s silence as a “political and moral surrender that humiliates our country before Europe and the world.”
However, Piantedosi pointed the finger at NGOs rather than at the Libyan shooters. “It is the State that fights human traffickers and manages and coordinates rescues at sea. Not the NGOs,” he wrote on social media.
EU institutions reacted more cautiously. During a press briefing on Tuesday, a Commission spokesperson described the Ocean Viking episode as “worrying,” saying Brussels had contacted Libyan authorities to “clarify the facts.” The EU’s border agency Frontex called the incident “deeply concerning” and called for a swift investigation, stressing: “No rescuer should ever be put in danger while carrying out life-saving work.”
Speaking at a conference in Rimini last week, Meloni said her policies had “drastically” reduced arrivals and cut “the number of deaths and missing persons at sea.” She framed her migration crackdown as a humanitarian success: “Nothing is more important than saving a human life, than tearing it away from the claws of human traffickers.”
Yet critics argue that Italy’s approach comes at the cost of partnering with abusive countries.
In January, the government faced backlash for releasing Osama Al-Masri Njeem, a Libyan general wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. A 2021 video shared by the NGO Refugees in Libya shows Al-Masri allegedly executing a man in Tripoli.
EU’s migration gamble
The attack on the NGO vessel has highlighted Europe’s uneasy partnership with Libya.
Since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has fractured and become a major transit hub for migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Despite widespread reports of torture, sexual violence and forced labor in Libya’s detention system, the EU and Italy have continued to support the Libyan coast guard. Rome signed the Italy–Libya Memorandum in 2017, funding and equipping Libyan patrols. The deal, criticized by rights groups, was renewed in 2019 and again in 2023. Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has tightened those ties further, securing an $8 billion gas deal in 2023.
At the same time, the EU has spent more than €91 million on border and migration management in Libya since 2014 as part of a €338 million migration package, while Italy has spent nearly €300 million on containment measures since 2017.
But oversight of these funds remains weak. In a report released in September 2024, the European Court of Auditors warned that more than €5 billion from the EU Trust Fund for Africa had been disbursed with insufficient controls.
Europe’s reliance on Libya is complicated further by rivalries with other powers. Russia has expanded its presence through arms supplies and a planned naval base in Tobruk, while Turkey is accused of cutting maritime deals with Libyan authorities that Greece deems illegal under international law.
In July, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner defended the need for Brussels to activate talks with Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar as a necessary step to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from further weaponizing migration.
“There is certainly a danger that Russia … [will] use migrants and the migration issue as a weapon against Europe,” he told POLITICO. “This weaponization is taking place, and of course we also fear that Russia intends to do the same with Libya.”
In July, Brunner was ejected from Benghazi as “persona non grata” over an apparent breakdown in diplomatic protocol. He had been leading a delegation of senior EU representatives — including ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece — in an attempt to discuss efforts to tackle the flow of migrants into Europe from the country.
The post Migration ties with Libya criticized after patrol boat shoots at NGO rescue team appeared first on Politico.
