NATO chief calls all sides in Libya to end war and focus on UN-led efforts for political solution

Secretary General: NATO-EU cooperation has reached unprecedented levels. NATO chief, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, calls all sides in Libya to end fighting and focus on UN-led efforts for a political solution.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg address to the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Sub-Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE). #eudebates #eudebates #NATO #Security #Defence #maritime #Military #ARMY #Cyber #HybridAttacks #NATOmeeting #NATOLondon

Addressing the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Sub-Committee on Security and Defence on Tuesday (21 January 2020), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed closer NATO-EU cooperation, including on maritime security, military mobility, and countering cyber and hybrid attacks.

NATO for LIBYA

Libya – well, I’m strongly in favour of supporting the UN-led efforts to find a political solution. I welcome the conference in . . . that was held in Berlin. We need a ceasefire. We need to implement the arms embargo. NATO is a strong supporter of that. So that’s the short answer to how to deal with the very difficult situation in Libya. There’s no easy way out, but we need a political negotiated solution.

Let me add that, in one way, the Libya operation, for good or for bad, shows how NATO and EU can work together. I was Prime Minister in 2011, when the Libya operation was launched, it was launched totally without NATO. I was actually in Paris and it was Norway, Denmark there. I remember I was together with the Danish Prime Minister, we had Sarkozy and we had Cameron. And it was a European initiative to launch the military campaign against Libya. And I was part of that. So I’m not . . . I’m not ashamed. I don’t . . . so I fully taking responsibility for that.

But then, after some time, we realised, as Europeans, that we were not able to conduct that operation against Libya without the support from NATO. And then the Europeans went to NATO and asked for help. And then, NATO provided that help. So the Libya campaign, was initiated as a European campaign, initiated without NATO. But after some days, we realised that we didn’t have the capabilities. So we went and then we utilised the NATO command structure and so on, to fully implement that campaign and also, of course, the support from the United States.

So whether you agree or disagree with Libya campaign doesn’t . . . it’s not the point here. The point is that it shows that, when needed, Europe and NATO, Europe and North America can work together, as we did in the Libya campaign, after the initiative from Europe.