An office would be opened in Benghazi, Libya, shortly, European Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton announced, in a further sign of the EU’s unofficial recognition of the Libyan opposition.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg during a plenary debate on the unfolding crisis in Libya, Baroness Ashton said the office would “support the people” and the Transitional National Council, the insurgent leadership based in Benghazi in eastern Libya.

She said the EU should help the insurgents in the fields of education, health care and border security. A spokesman for Baroness Ashton declined to give further details about the office but said its opening did not amount to an upgrade of the EU’s diplomatic relations with the TNC.

Although the EU is in close contact with the rebels, it has so far not given official recognition to the opposition. However, some member states, namely France and Italy, have given full recognition to the TNC.Malta has so far adopted the more cautious stand of the EU: refraining from officially recognising the rebels while keeping in contact with them and offering help in the form of humanitarian assistance.

After attending the meeting of the Contact Group in Rome recently, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said Malta had not yet decided on recognising the opposition and participating in a new mechanism aimed at using the frozen Libyan funds held by the Maltese authorities to finance the Libyan rebels.

During the EP debate, Baroness Ashton was harshly criticised by some MEPs over what they termed lack of ambition in responding to the uprisings that swept the Arab world.