On Monday, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz attended the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels. The main topic of discussion was recent developments in Libya and the EU’s reaction. Prior to the Council, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said in a statement:

We must give more on-site aid in the countries of origin and transit countries, in order to provide people with prospects there and give those in need of protection that protection as near as possible to their home country.

As the situation in Libya goes hand in hand with migration, the agenda again included the latter. The discussion involved Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration, and focused on the Central Mediterranean route.

Should we not succeed in protecting the EU’s external borders, then a Europe without internal borders will be in danger. The Mediterranean route must be shut and the ferrying of illegal migrants from the Italian islands to the mainland must come to an end.

The Foreign Affairs Council also discussed the implementation of the EU Global Strategy in the coming year as well as the situation on the Korean peninsula, which is deteriorating again following the North Korean missile tests on 4 June.