SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to Tripoli on Wednesday and struck a number of deals with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, including promises to build a nuclear reactor. Now critics in Germany and France are crying foul, accusing him of going it alone and potentially endangering Europe.
New French President Nicolas Sarkozy is really starting to grate on German nerves. First he tried to shake up the European Central Bank, then he let his wife grab the limelight over the release of the six Bulgarian medics held in Libya for eight years and now he is going it alone to clinch important deals with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Sarkozy traveled to Tripoli on Wednesday just a day after his wife Cecilia flew out of Libya on a French presidential plane with the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor on board. The French president and Gadhafi signed five key agreements on future cooperation, including deals on defense and civilian nuclear energy.
The French even agreed to help the Libyans develop a nuclear reactor to desalinate water. But critics in Germany and France have questioned the wisdom of promoting atomic energy in a country that until 2003 had been trying to develop a nuclear weapons program. The Libyan leader has since renounced terrorism and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but many German commentators and politicians argue that the country is still a dictatorship and so its promises should be viewed with caution. Sarkozy's Libya Nuke Deal 'A European Disgrace' (more)
Mark Alexander
