20 March 2015 - All delegations are here. All delegations were given as you remember a few days to prepare this round, which we have told them we expect it be the decisive round.

In the last days we have seen more fighting, airstrikes, more actions by Daesh not only Libya but also in the region all participants have expressed their sorrow and condolences for what happened in Tunisia. It is another alarm sign that we have to take into account for what is going on in the region. So there is a sense of urgency and we believe this should be a decisive round.

A message of acknowledgement for these representatives that prepare the work and came here to a negotiation which is always complicated, because you have to make concessions, you have to give up on something if you want to make a deal. So we have to praise them and praise those who are working for peace and to remind them that not only the United Nations team, not only the international community, all of us, all the world is expecting them to come in a spirit of compromise. They have to be ready, I insist, to agree with the other, and this means making concessions, not trying to get everything, not trying to win with 100 percent the result in your favor but trying to understand that this is a give and take process.

We will discuss in the three days the security arrangements document, the national unity government documents which include criteria, guidelines for the future action of the government, the framework in which this government will work. Also, we would like to discuss the confidence building measures document which will be sent to Brussels next week. This will be a first phase in our work these days. By Sunday, we would like to have these three documents ready and if possible, published, as already agreed part of what will be a final package.

On Monday, I will fly to Brussels for the opening of the municipalities confidence building measures meeting. As you know, we have different tracks in these negotiations. We have the municipalities that will meet in Brussels. We have the security track and we are trying to organize a meeting by the end of next week of the security, all the army, armed groups, etc. We will have the input of this security arrangement document but the detailed decisions, concrete decisions; the technical arrangements on ceasefire, all the other elements will be discussed in the security track working group.

And we will have, of course, more meetings hopefully in the coming days. We are already preparing the second meeting of political parties and political leaders. As you remember, the first meeting was a few days ago in Algiers. And we are also preparing the meeting of tribal chiefs, tribal leaders, tribal representatives that is expected to take place in Egypt also in the coming days. So, also all the tracks will continue their work.

They will receive a very important input from the meeting we are having these days and, as I said, this should send a strong message to the Libyan people that the negotiators are not only here to talk, to meet, which is of course also important, but also to reach agreement. Only this agreement, only this unity government, these decisions taken by all the actors, the political and the military, the armed groups will give a chance to Libya to get out of the crisis.

So thank you once again, first of all the Kingdom of Morocco, his Majesty the King, for hosting us. I’m sure you agree that the venue is perfect, that we are welcome as if we were at home. We feel at home. All the participants in these talks share this feeling of gratitude and acknowledgement to thank the international community for their support. Many representatives of different countries which are following very closely the situation in Libya are here and are coming these days to support the talks.

Question: Make or Break round?

LEON: Well, you never know in a negotiation when there is this moment in which you cannot stretch more the process. There is always a feeling in the parties, if their calculation is that if time can continue in their favor they continue to stretch the process. However, we have some deadlines coming and we cannot change these deadlines. The international community is following very closely and with increasing concern the situation of terrorism. Something has to be done. It’s not only about Libya but about the region, the wider region. But Libya is today a critical case. So, something has to be done regarding terrorism. We have a very important Arab League summit in a few days. We have decisions even about the mandate of the United Nations Mission by the end of this month. So, we have a number of deadlines coming. I’m a person who normally does not like to be this kind of very dramatic … In this case, I think we are in the decisive moment. And parties should be aware that this is the decisive movement and if they are not able to take the right decisions Libya will go back to war again and we know this is a war that nobody can win. This is a war as we have seen in other countries in the region that may last for years and may produce suffering for years.

Q: shape of talks?

LEON: They have expressed their wish to work separately and to continue with this system of proximity talks. Of course, we respect their positions. We believe that at some point getting together could be useful and we hope it will happen in the coming days. But at least for the coming three days, from now until Sunday, we have agreed that we will continue to work on proximity talks.