ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 11 - EU Agrees To End Arms Ban On Libya.

EU FMs agree to lift an arms embargo on Libya, marking a further step toward the return of the North African country to the international diplomatic fold. Europe's move to further thaw relations with Libya follows Tripoli's decision last year to abandon its plans to develop unconventional weapons. The move also comes in response to pressure from Italy, which wants to supply Tripoli with surveillance equipment to help prevent illegal immigration. Italy's long coastline makes it a major target for African migrants trying to reach Europe by boat. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "EU foreign ministers have just agreed on a full lifting of the EU-Libya arms embargo. This follows our assessment that Libya has done all that we asked of it in respect of the complete abandonment of its weapons of mass destruction program". (The arms embargo was imposed on Tripoli in 1988 after Libyan terrorists blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Libya has agreed to pay $2.7 bn to compensate the families of the 270 people killed in the Lockerbie attack, as well as the victims of other attacks in the 1980s. This new stance has led to an improvement in relations with the EU and the US, culminating in April of this year with the Libyan leader Qaddafi, visiting Brussels on his first trip outside the Middle East or Africa in 15 years). The EU's step follows the decision by the US last month to end its commercial sanctions on Libya. However, the EU continued to pressure Libya to release five nurses arrested in 1999 who continue to be held under sentence of death. Tripoli charges that they deliberately infected hundreds of children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The European FMs, in Luxembourg for their monthly meeting, also discussed for the first time the recommendation put forward by the European Commission last week to begin EU membership negotiations with Turkey. National leaders will decide whether to proceed with the talks at a meeting in December, but ministers Oct 11 clashed over the timing of the talks. Austria and Cyprus are pushing for a delay, while nations like Britain, one of Turkey's biggest backers, want negotiations to begin early next year. Despite the commission's generally positive recommendation, skeptics like Austria still fear Turkish membership will cause a new wave of migration into Europe. They are calling for further study into the likely impact of Turkey's entry to the bloc. Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch PM, is due to write to EU leaders in the next couple of weeks, setting out a timetable for how the Dutch EU presidency plans to handle the politically sensitive decision. Denis MacShane, Britain's minister for Europe, said the "vast majority" of EU countries supported the start of membership negotiations in the first half of next year. But Chirac reiterated on Oct 10 that France, where public opposition remains strong, would hold a referendum on whether to allow Turkey in. The Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has labeled this position unfair and discriminatory, since no referendum has been held on other countries joining. An opinion poll on Oct 11 indicated that 61% of the French are opposed to Turkey joining the EU in a few years, while 26% support the bid.