, Columnist
Europe Is Failing Its Test in Libya
Instead of developing an “appetite for power” to quell the conflict, the EU has bitten off more than it can chew.
Where Europe’s great power pretensions go to die.
Photographer: Amru Salahuddien/Xinhua via Getty
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Europe’s desire for strategic autonomy from the U.S. is being tested on the outskirts of Tripoli. It is not going well.
A ceasefire between the opposing sides in Libya’s civil war, agreed in Berlin last month under the supervision of Chancellor Angela Merkel, has been repeatedly breached. The forces of Khalifa Haftar, the strongman supported by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia, have kept up sporadic attacks against positions held by the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli, which is backed by Turkey.