Migrants, Meloni today in Tunisia and tomorrow in Turkey: lightning missions looking at Libya

Surprisingly, in the midst of the storm over tariffs and waiting to know the details of the US-EU agreement on 15% tariffs, Prime MinisterGiorgia Meloni flies to Tunisia. The objective: to meet President Kaïs Saïed again, to claim the results achieved in terms of blocking the departure of migrants from the country and the commitment to the Mattei Plan, and "to identify the critical issues to be tackled together," government sources explain, "including through regional approaches".

In this expression, also used many times in the past by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, lies the key to reading today's and tomorrow's trip to Turkey by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. One writes "migratory cooperation" and "combating the criminal networks of traffickers", one reads "strategic alliances" to tackle the real unresolved knot that worries the government: Libya, hostage to the struggles between the warlords and increasingly the terrain of conquest of Russia, where, however, Ankara itself has increased its presence militarily, economically and diplomatically, also relaunching relations with General Khalifa Haftar who controls Cyrenaica to the east of the country.

The diplomatic incident at the beginning of July, when the European delegation, including Piantedosi, was blocked in Benghazi by the general's men, was immediately considered closed by the government: relations with Haftar are unchanged (his son Saddam had been received shortly before at the Viminale), marked by cordiality and cooperation, and the stop at the airport was certainly not a discourtesy to Italy. A new mission to Libya is not, however, on the agenda, even if the dossier was among those addressed by the vice-premier and holder of the Farnesina, Antonio Tajani, in his last visit to the US to meet the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Meloni weaves the web with Tunisia and, above all, Turkey to plead the cause of stabilising Libya asthe key to security in the Mediterranean. This too was discussed yesterday in the point on irregular immigration made at Palazzo Chigi with the vice-premiers, Ministers Piantedosi, Giancarlo Giorgetti (Economy), Guido Crosetto (Defence) and Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, who is in charge of the secret services. Because the numbers don't lie: 90% of the 36,545 migrants who have landed since the beginning of the year, an increase of 9.15% compared to the same period in 2024, have departed from Libyan shores. With the tensions and uncertainty shaking the world chessboard - is the message that Meloni delivers to her counterparts - a Libya in chaos is not in anyone's interest.