Libya/France/EU

Kadhafi slams Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union plan

Article published on the 2008-06-11 Latest update 2008-06-12 13:47 TU

Moamer Kadhafi
(Photo: Reuters)

Libya's leader Moamer Kadhafi on Tuesday slammed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal of a Mediterranean Union as a "passing fad" at a mini-summit with African and Middle Eastern leaders. He described it as a danger to African and Arab unity and pointed out that European leaders have already fallen out over it.

"If Europe wants to cooperate with us, let them do so through the Arab League or the African Union," the Libyan leader said. "We will not accept that they deal only with a small group."

Sarkozy has proposed a Mediterranean bloc which would be similar to the European Union. But, Kadhafi noted, "the initiative of our dear Sarkozy has been firmly rejected by Europe".

An EU summit in March Germany forced Sarkozy to change his plan, by insisting that the whole EU be included and not just member-states with Mediterranean coasts.

The three-hour Tripoli meeting, which brought the presidents of Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia to Libya, comes ahead of a larger meeting in Paris on 13 July, although it is unclear how many countries will be represented there.

Richard Youngs, at the Madrid-based think-tank Fride, says that Kadhafi's opposition is not surprising.

"Kadhafi’s been fairly hostile to the Barcelona process, the EU’s current policy framework towards the Mediterranean," he told RFI. "The EU states have been trying to entice Libya into this process for many years and Kadhafi has rejected those advances."

Kadhafi dismissed promises of economic development to non-EU Mediterranean countries were just "sops" and humiliating for the nations targeted.

"We are not starving and we are not dogs begging to be given a bone," he said.