France, Germany Urge EU to Talk with Libyan Opposition
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Thursday said Paris and Berlin were calling on their European Union partners to engage in dialogue with Libyan opposition leaders.
Speaking after talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Juppe said, "We are on the same track to say Colonel Gadhafi is discredited, he must go, we must engage dialogue with the new Libyan representatives."
Juppe spoke as the EU's 27 foreign ministers arrived in Brussels for emergency talks on Libya as NATO defense ministers also prepared to mull options at separate talks in the EU capital.
Shortly before, France became the first country to recognize Libya's opposition national council and said it would send an ambassador to the rebel-held city of Benghazi.
"France has recognized the national transition council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people," one of the council's envoys, Ali al-Issawi, told reporters after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"On the basis of this recognition, we are going to open a diplomatic mission, that is our own embassy in Paris, and an ambassador from France will be sent to Benghazi," he added.
"This ambassador will be in Benghazi for a transition period before returning to Tripoli."
Sarkozy was the first head of state to meet with the Libyan opposition.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she had met the two opposition envoys in Strasbourg during a European Parliament session Wednesday.
"My purpose was to gather information," she said as she went into the foreign ministers' talks.
Source: Agence France Presse
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