BRUSSELS — Libya has discarded Italy’s candidate to lead the EU’s mission there and is expected to choose a diplomat from France. This comes as a blow to Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who has pledged more engagement with North African countries as a central plank of her foreign policy agenda. The development, first revealed by Italian daily Il Foglio, comes amid a long-running resource rivalry between Italy and France for influence in Libya. In contrast, the French candidate Simmonet has no previous experience in Libya, though he did recently serve as the EU’s envoy to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman. The second EU diplomat noted that the Italian government was disappointed by Libya’s snub, although it did not react officially.
