Austria confirms the EU’s support of the GNU, says changes in Libya are cause for hope

According to the Libyan Foreign Ministry, the Austrian FM stated that Libya is seeing encouraging developments that are cause for hope for Libyans after a decade of chaos.

The Austrian Minister also reiterated the sentiments of his French, German and Italian counterparts who recently visited Libya by stressing that the EU will continue to provide its unwavering support for Libya’s new government in whatever way it can.

Schallenberg added that Austria is prepared to back the GNU in pushing the democratic forward and commence the preparations for the country’s national elections in December of this year.

In keeping with other international powers, Schallenberg expressed his country’s concern over the continued presence of foreign forces in Libya, calling it a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement and emphasising the importance of removing all foreign actors from Libyan soil.

The Austrian FM also congratulated his Libyan counterpart for becoming the country’s first female foreign minister, stating that it reflects the generational turnover in the country, with younger people coming into the political scene and enacting change to bring their home country out of its state of fragmentation and into a new era of democracy and stability.