After Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its weaponisation of natural gas supplies, energy security has become a top political priority for Europe. Given the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's abundant oil and gas resources, the European countries inevitably turned to the region to make up for the shortfall.
While the pandemic has monopolised attention over the past two years, it’s far from the only story, as tectonic changes continue on the world stage and the “great transition” picks up pace.
Launched by the EU Council in the midst of the Covid-19 emergency, Operation Irini is the eleventh CSDP military mission[1], 17 years after the first EU “boots on the ground” in Macedonia. Irini's main task is to enforce the arms embargo on Libya, which was imposed by the UN since 2011 but unfortunately has never been effectively implemented as yet, thereby contributing to the peace process in the country.