Libya and Europe

Last week, when CNN and Al-Jazeera claimed that Libya offered to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombing, I was in Tripoli. The occasion was the conference of the foreign ministers of the west Mediterranean countries. It proved to be an interesting setting in which to hear that initial report and to assess its aftermath.

The report was quickly denied by Libyan foreign minister Shalqam. In an interview he gave some of us journalists, he said a 'solution' had not yet been found - the solution here referring to the massive problem posed for Libya by the US sanctions. Shalqam emphasised that Libya could not accept responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing - a Libyan citizen may have been found guilty by a court, but that did not mean that the Jamahiriya had been found guilty. So Libya could never offer, Shalqam said, 'official' compensation to the victims' families.

However, from the way questions were answered, it seems that the key phrase here is 'official' compensation. My impression was reinforced after a conversation with a Libyan official close to the country's leadership. It seems Libya is willing to explore ways to compensate the families of the victims, but under the rubric of humanitarian reasons.

This refusal by Libya to accept responsibility for the bombing will continue to be a stumbling block in its attempts to normalise relations with the US. Of this wish to normalise relations there can be no doubt. Asked by Portugal's RTP when Libya would be prepared to normalise these relations, Shalqam quickly replied, "From tomorrow." But a White House official was reported by the New York Times to have reacted to the alleged Libyan offer of compensation by saying that it was a necessary step, but not sufficient.

The significance of this Lockerbie 'interlude' needs to be assessed against the backdrop of the west Mediterranean forum. Here, Shalqam lost no opportunity to emphasise, both with his ministerial counterparts and with journalists, Libya's disposition to cooperate in existing regional projects.

Of course, Libya has always taken an active interest in shaping the political environment around and beyond it. But there seems to me to be a change of emphasis. Where previously Libya had emphasised the leadership role it was willing to take - in Africa, the Arab world, and elsewhere - it now is emphasising its openness to joining others. Time will tell how the change in rhetorical emphasis will spell itself out in practice, but it seems to me that the change is discernible.

For instance, I asked Shalqam if Libya wished to join the Mediterranean Forum - a forum that includes the east Mediterranean countries - and he replied that Libya was ready to participate.

I followed this up by asking if, should Libya join the (pan) Mediterranean forum, this would render the west Mediterranean forum irrelevant. Shalqam retorted by saying that the west Mediterranean forum would remain important because he believed there was the potential for more progress between its participants, there being more active relations between Spain and Morocco, France and Tunisia and Algeria, and Libya and Italy (perhaps Malta was an inadvertent omission) than between the northern and southern shores of the east Mediterranean.

I think it is fair to say that in earlier years Libya would have emphasised the damage caused by the colonial history of the west Mediterranean; today, although that history and its consequences are still of concern to Libya, the country is making a greater emphasis on the great potential for cooperation.

These two conditions - the obstacle in the way of Libya's normalised relations with the US, and Libya's desire to participate fully in regional development - are also a challenge to Europe. On September 2 last year, Shalqam had stated that Libya would give about a year's chance to allow US firms to take up contracts left in suspension for many years, as well as new ones. The year is nearly up. The development to watch out for is whether Europe will make any extra moves to facilitate Libya's greater political and economic participation in the Mediterranean space.