The European Union is to hold an emergency summit on the situation in Libya and North Africa March 11, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
The leaders of the 17 states which use the euro had already agreed to meet in Brussels on that date to discuss economic reforms. It has now been decided to invite the leaders of the 10 non-euro EU states to join the meeting to discuss Libya.
The decision came after the president of the council of EU member states, Herman Van Rompuy, and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, met Tuesday to debate the bloc’s response to the upheavals across North Africa.
The EU has already decided to impose sanctions on the regime of Colonel Moamer Gaddafi, banning all sales of arms and materiel which could be used in the crackdown on opposition forces and bringing in asset bans and visa freezes on 26 top figures, including Gaddafi.
But calls have come from a number of leaders for the bloc to hold a summit to debate what more could be done. Ashton has been tasked with preparing that meeting, sources familiar with the situation said.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday what measures, in particular, the EU might look at. With sanctions approved, current attention is focusing on the rapid build-up of refugees along Libya’s borders with Egypt and Tunisia.
Sources in Brussels said it would also be possible to extend the sanctions to freeze the assets of Libyan companies in the EU.
Such a decision could prove sensitive for Italy, where several high-profile companies, such as energy giant ENI, the Unicredit banking group, the Finmeccanica defence firm and the Juventus football club are partly owned by Libyan interests.
A number of senior officials have also called for a major new programme of EU funding to help the fledgling democratic movements across the Arab world.
And debate has also begun over the question of whether the international community should intervene militarily in Libya by imposing a no-fly zone, to prevent Gaddafi calling in air power against his opponents.
However, Ashton’s spokesman, Michael Mann, Tuesday played down the likelihood of such a move, saying, “It must have a legal base decided by the UN Security Council, so it’s not something which is on the table here in Brussels”.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Monday also stressed the need for UN backing for any military operation.
The EU leaders are expected to hold their talks over an informal lunch in Brussels. After their lunch, the eurozone leaders are set to hold their economic debate as planned, diplomats said.
Those talks came after Germany and France called for a pact to force eurozone states to work harder on improving their economic competitiveness. But according to draft summit papers, the proposal has been greatly watered down, leaving it to individual states to decide what measures they take.