Libya has not still recovered its internal stability, since the fall of Ghaddafi’s regime in 2011;while a credible political agreement seems far away from being reached in the short term. Even after the adoption of the UN-backed Libyan Political Agreement and the ousting of forces affiliated with IS (Islamic State) from their strongholds in Libya last year, many different actors are competing with one another to impose their own hegemony on the country. What are the forces still present on the ground? Who is the internal balance of power in favour of? And If an international intervention is needed, is there still a chance for Italy to play a role in the negotiation process?

Securitarian, humanitarian, and economic concerns concur in defining a country's migration policies. The political upheavals and conflicts in the MENA region and the resulting outflow of refugees highlights how migration policies and foreign relations - both domestic and external dimensions - are strictly interlinked. In the middle of the refugee crisis, with the Mediterranean becoming the “graveyard” for thousands of migrants and Libya plunging into chaos, Italy sought a new approach to border control with the Mare Nostrum operation. Was it an ephemeral response to the public outcry or should it be considered a call for a more coordinated and coherent European effort?

In 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon that came into force provided the EU with a High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and a newly devised European External Action Service that was formed in January 2011.  The Arab uprisings and the civil wars in Libya and Syria constituted early and delicate test benches for the new CFSP. Nevertheless, assessing the CFSP during the Syrian crisis cannot be decoupled from the role played by the European member states most involved in the events on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

Migration is as old as the his tory of humanity and migrants have been and will always be a permanent reality with a potential to trans form countries and regions around the world. E urope and the Middle E as t have always had population trans - fers between them through the passing of c enturies but during the las t years they have been trying to regulate these movements. T he “Arab Spring” added a new pressing fac tor on that proc ess. Henc e, decision-makers should work hard to formulate a pragmatic and fair migration s trategy that would give benefits to all the E uro-Mediterranean sides.