Commissioner John Dalli’s ‘clarification’ on his controversial Libya comments was only issued following the personal intervention of Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Without going into the details of their private conversation, Mr Barroso’s spokesperson, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen confirmed this morning that Mr Barroso contacted the Maltese Commissioner over the weekend in order to discuss his comments on Libya.

“What I can say is that Mr Dalli issued a clarification on his remarks which is “very useful” to us,” she told the Commission’s daily press briefing in Brussels this morning.

Late yesterday evening, Mr Dalli issued a statement to ‘clarify’ his comments on Libya and which were interpreted by the international media to be apologetic to Colonel Gaddafi and his regime.

In his statement Mr Dalli said that he regretted that some of his comments conveyed the “false impression” that he did not support the position on Libya taken by his boss, President Barroso.

Last week Mr Barroso made it clear that the time for Mr Gaddafi is up and he must leave. However, when, during an event in Malta he was asked to comment about whether the Libyan leader had to resign, Commissioner Dalli said that Gaddafi “should make his own decisions".

In his Friday intervention, Mr Dalli also questioned the authenticity of some of the media coverage being given to the Libyan opposition and described as ‘pitiful’ that US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was relying on media reports to get information of what is happening to Libya.

The international press slammed Mr Dalli’s comments and said that during the past years Mr Dalli has developed close business contacts with the Gaddafi regime.