Challenging the EU's Financial Support to the Libyan Coast Guard: Any Room for the Principle of Good administration?

This article problematises the provision of EU development assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard to enhance its border control capacity. It frames the provision of EU funding to Libya as an example of externalization of EU migration management responsibilities aimed at curbing migration inflows towards the EU. It then highlights how this policy risks facilitating migrant exposure to severe human rights violations. Moreover, it underlines how the use of development assistance for migration control purposes might be in contrast with the objectives and principles at the basis of EU development cooperation policy. Against this backdrop, it argues that the principle of good administration could play a significant role in contesting the way EU-funded projects are implemented in Libya, making the European Ombudsman a particularly promising but underexplored avenue to foster accountability in EU practices of externalization of migration control.