Senior Policy Fellow
Libya, North Africa, Euro-Med cooperation, stabilisation, and democratisation
English, Arabic
Tarek Megerisi is a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His work mainly addresses how European policymaking towards the Maghreb and Mediterranean regions can become more strategic, harmonious, and incisive – with a long-term focus on Libya.
For more than a decade, Megerisi has worked with various regional, European, and multilateral authorities on providing reform and stabilisation assistance to transitional states in the Middle East and North Africa. He has been involved in a range of projects, including post-conflict stabilisation, development and democratisation, Libya’s domestic and international political processes, economic reform in Tunisia, and the eastern Mediterranean disputes. His articles have featured in publications such as Foreign Policy magazine and the Guardian newspaper, and he has contributed to think-tank programming across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa.
Once a beacon of progressive hope, Tunisia’s economy teeters on the brink and its president jails opponents and scapegoats migrants. European governments have the tools to support Tunisian reform and resilience if they can look beyond short-term migration management
Russia’s re-entrenchment in Libya, Europe’s soft underbelly, offers profound lessons on how it exploits geopolitical instability—and how Europeans can push back
Severe weaknesses in the Egyptian and Tunisian economies provoke recurrent crises. There is a better way for Europeans to support Cairo and Tunis
After weeks of rising tensions between Libya’s political elites, the country is nearing collapse. Europeans must act fast to avoid another conflict on their doorstep
Finally passed into law, the UK’s bill to process migrants in Rwanda has been a political disaster. European governments should remember that not only does such a policy not work to deter migration, it will politically damage any party that adopts it
Europeans need to stop handing control of their borders to southern Mediterranean states. Instead, they should pursue measures that tie the short-term imperative to reduce irregular migration to longer-term strategies that lessen the need for people to migrate in the first place
The disasters that have struck Morocco and Libya in recent days demand an urgent response. Europeans have an imperative to act – but should bear in mind the political complexities underlying the provision of aid
Tunisia’s autocratic president is leading the country to the brink. The EU and member states should act now to support Tunisian democracy
Libya is trapped in a degenerative cycle of war. Yet Europeans could use the current stalemate in the country to restart an electoral process that would end the cycle
European policymakers should look on current protests in Libya as a rare opportunity to push for change in what has long been a stagnant political environment
Russia’s re-entrenchment in Libya, Europe’s soft underbelly, offers profound lessons on how it exploits geopolitical instability—and how Europeans can push back
Severe weaknesses in the Egyptian and Tunisian economies provoke recurrent crises. There is a better way for Europeans to support Cairo and Tunis
Europeans need to stop handing control of their borders to southern Mediterranean states. Instead, they should pursue measures that tie the short-term imperative to reduce irregular migration to longer-term strategies that lessen the need for people to migrate in the first place
Tunisia’s autocratic president is leading the country to the brink. The EU and member states should act now to support Tunisian democracy
The EU and its member states can assist Tunisian leaders by providing new investment – and thereby reboot the democratic transition
Europeans should provide stabilisation, technical, and diplomatic support to strengthen Libya’s governance and accountability mechanisms to ensure a new government can successfully hold elections in 2021
Introduction The Libyan National Army’s (LNA) recent advance on Tripoli, under the leadership of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has pushed Libya into what could become…
The tragedy of Libya in well known in outline but poorly known in detail – to many in Europe, that is. But Europe has a role in the country’s stabilisation
Once a beacon of progressive hope, Tunisia’s economy teeters on the brink and its president jails opponents and scapegoats migrants. European governments have the tools to support Tunisian reform and resilience if they can look beyond short-term migration management
After weeks of rising tensions between Libya’s political elites, the country is nearing collapse. Europeans must act fast to avoid another conflict on their doorstep
Finally passed into law, the UK’s bill to process migrants in Rwanda has been a political disaster. European governments should remember that not only does such a policy not work to deter migration, it will politically damage any party that adopts it
The disasters that have struck Morocco and Libya in recent days demand an urgent response. Europeans have an imperative to act – but should bear in mind the political complexities underlying the provision of aid
Libya is trapped in a degenerative cycle of war. Yet Europeans could use the current stalemate in the country to restart an electoral process that would end the cycle
European policymakers should look on current protests in Libya as a rare opportunity to push for change in what has long been a stagnant political environment
If Libya is to avoid the same political dynamics that sparked its long-running civil war, European states that are invested in Libyan diplomacy will need to focus on establishing a new electoral road map
Heightened conflict in Ukraine could have serious consequences for European interests in the Middle East and North Africa. It could further disrupt energy supplies, exacerbate food insecurity, and help states in the region gain leverage over the US and Europe
Europeans cannot stand apart from the chaos in Tunisia – indeed, active European involvement now can help restore stability to the country
If policymakers watch closely enough, football might just provide the perspective and insights they need to advance a geopolitical Europe
The eastern Mediterranean is becoming ever more perilous as geopolitical fault lines steadily enmesh the region. These rifts emerge from the Cyprus ‘frozen conflict’, competition for valuable gas fields, and the increasingly entangled wars in Libya and Syria
Turmoil in the Middle East and north Africa directly affects Europeans. Yet their influence in the region has never been weaker. This project maps Europe’s role across the Middle East and north Africa, making the case that Europeans can do more to leverage their influence in pursuit of core interests
The attempt of a peace process in Libya is facing several substantial hindrances, where a variety of actors keep on inducing significant upheavals in its…
Anthony Dworkin stands in for our usual host, Mark Leonard, to de-brief the Berlin Conference on Libya. Together with the ECFR’s experts Asli Aydıntaşbaş, Tarek…
Podcast de notre BCM du 5 mai « Quelle issue pour la situation en Libye ? » en présence de Tarek Megerisi, chercheur…
Mark Leonard speaks with Julien Barnes-Dacey and Tarek Megerisi about the Libyan conflict, the impact of the Paris summit, and Europe’s fight over migration policies…
Tarek Megerisi on frictions in Libya between Tripoli and Benghazi
“Lukashenko undoubtedly has good relations with Haftar, and there are flights connecting Minsk with eastern Libya. Some say the Russians are helping to send migrants via Belarus.”
Tarek Megerisi on Belarus-Libya relations
Tarek Megerisi on plans to resettle Palestinians from Gaza
It was simply a ruse on Haftar’s part to try and legitimise his government and the civilian face of his military dictatorship
Tarek Megerisi on Khalifa Haftar’s attempts to legitimise his military dictatorship
It was simply a ruse to try to legitimize his Government and the civilian face of his military dictatorship
Tarek Megerisi analyses how Haftar has used migration as a diplomatic tool in Libya
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