The European Commission is “looking into” controversial comments on Libya made by EU Commissioner John Dalli last Friday, which were interpreted by observers to contradict a statement made by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The Sunday Times is informed that senior EU officials have been requested to compile a report for the EU executive’s Secretary General on Mr Dalli’s comments.
Asked during a business breakfast last Friday whether the Libyan leader should resign, Mr Dalli said Mr Gaddafi “should make his own decisions”.
Mr Dalli also cast doubt on the veracity of footage coming out of Libya, saying he wondered whether some of it could have been staged for TV cameras. He also said it was “pitiful” that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was relying on the media for her information.
Sources close to the Commission confirmed that Mr Barroso was aware of Mr Dalli’s comments and expressed “surprise” at his position.
However, when contacted yesterday, Mr Barroso’s spokesman said: “I am not going into what Mr Dalli said as this was his personal appreciation of the Libyan situation. Mr Barroso has already made the Commission’s position clear that Col. Gaddafi’s position is untenable.”
During a press statement last Wednesday, Mr Barroso said it was time for Mr Gaddafi “to go and give the country back to the people of Libya,” with the EU’s foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton also demanding that he “stand aside.”
Mr Dalli’s comments were picked up by the international media with the EU Observer – one of the main news portals in Brussels - calling them “off-message”.
Mr Dalli’s official spokesman told the EU Observer that anything he might have told the Maltese press was not necessarily his official view as an EU Commissioner.
The spokesman told AFP yesterday that “personal commentaries” on a country Mr Dalli knows well, “that’s no secret”, should not be confused with his core beliefs.
“He said a solution that respects human rights had to be found. That is totally in line with the democratic values that guide the Commission,” Mr Dalli’s spokesman said.
“And in making some additional personal commentaries – to a Maltese business audience, close neighbours remember – he was only doing what millions of people around the world are doing.”
Asked about the media images Mr Dalli claimed could be manipulated, the spokesman said: “I have spoken to the Commissioner, and he was talking about images on both sides, pro-regime demonstrations as well.”
Both AFP and EU Observer said Mr Dalli has built up close personal links with the Libyan regime over the past two decades.
AFP reported that consultancy firm John Dalli & Associates was set up in 2004, with offices in Tripoli. Online autobiographical notes say it focuses on “introducing and facilitating the establishment of Western companies in the North African economies, especially Libya.”
The news agency said Mr Dalli worked for a Libyan-Maltese Joint Commission from 1987 to 1996 and 1998 to 2004 – periods when Libya was under UN sanctions.
For political reasons, the consultancy business was now run by his family, AFP said.