Transforming Gaddafi's Libya

By David Cronin - 12.05.2005 / 00:00 CET

Just over a year ago, the international image of Muammar Gaddafi underwent a dramatic transformation. The man once described by western leaders as a sponsor of terrorism was photographed next to those ever-smiling putti on the paintings in the office of Romano Prodi, then president of the European Commission. Prodi had courted the Libyan dictator assiduously (perhaps because of Italy's burgeoning economic interests in the country), but Libya remains the only country around the Mediterranean without formal relations with the EU. The Commission has no office in Tripoli and there is no association agreement between the two sides.

Please log in to read this article:

Don't have a login yet?

Discover your benefits and register for free now! It only takes a minute.

Subscribe to European Voice for €15 per month

Transatlantic Economic Council faces uncertain future

ALLOWING the US to export 30,000 tonnes of poultry meat to the EU, 0.3% of its total consumption, may not seem much of a breakthrough in a transatlantic trade relationship worth €1.6 trillion. But if, as expected, in June the EU ends the ban it has maintained for 11 years because the US uses antimicrobial agents to eliminate salmonella, it will mark the first positive result of the Transatlantic Economic Council.

EPAs pose threat to ACP regional integration

Negotiations over Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the European Commission have divided the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that are the ostensible beneficiaries. The Commission has managed to secure the initialling of some agreements, but the majority of ACP states have refused to take such a step.