On 16 July, newly appointed Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis called on the European Union (EU) to resume ‘Operation Sophia’, an EU-led naval mission that aimed to break up smuggling routes and halt migrants prior to their departure in the Mediterranean, before being officially shelved in 2020. In an interview with POLITICO, Kairidis said ‘these tragedies will continue to happen unless we stop departures from Libya and other places on ships that are unseaworthy’, adding that ‘EU vessels would station in the Libyan territorial waters with the agreement of the local government’.
