Italy pursues pragmatic foreign policy in Libya

A new strategic approach is leading Rome to expand its ties to eastern Libya, away from its traditional alignment to Tripoli, with its ambassador increasing the number of his trips to Benghazi, as seen this week.

Since the end of 2022, Italy’s right-wing government has expressed its discomfort with Libya’s post-revolutionary political landscape, with Prime Minister Giogia Meloni saying that the French-led NATO intervention in 2011 cost Italy its privileged ties with Gaddafi’s regime. In many ways, Rome has acknowledged that previous policies, mainly depending on western Libya, have not achieved Italian interests and failed to strengthen stability in the North African country.

As a result, Rome has sought to create equal distance from eastern and western Libyan actors, by wanting to change its image as a one-sided actor in Libya, which has traditionally backed Tripoli-based governments and gained the reputation of being the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) staunchest supporter in the West. To do so, Italy has increased its contacts with the LNA and eastern Libya, which could provide new investment opportunities in energy for Eni and which has also increasingly become a port of departure for migrants toward Italian shores. In May 2023, LNA Commander-in-Chief Khalifa Haftar visited Rome to discuss migration with key officials and last month an Italian delegation headed by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi made its way to Benghazi.