Libya and Europe: Economic Realism at the Rescue of the Qaddafi Authoritarian Regime

Abstract

Relations between Libya and the West in general, and with the members of the European Union, in particular, have always been ambivalent and tense. Libya's foreign policy, founded on radical Arab nationalism, its support for revolutionary and terrorist movements across the globe, as well as its relentless opposition to ‘United States imperialism’, resulted in costly enmities. Qaddafi's erratic and atypical behaviour caused suspicions regarding the intentions of the country often accused of being a sponsor of state terrorism. Worse still, the Lockerbie (1988) and the UTA (1989) bombings resulted in severe and quite costly sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States and the European countries, most of which had severed diplomatic relations with Libya in the late 1980s. Even if the unilateral sanctions the United States imposed upon Libya brought Europeans and Americans to loggerheads, especially as pertaining to commercial interactions, this did not allow Libya to break its international isolation. However, since 1999, relations between Libya and the Western world have undergone a remarkable turnaround. This article reviews the evolution of Libya's relations with the European countries and analyses the reasons which have allowed the recent enhancement of relations between the Jamahiriya and the northern neighbours. Commercial, energy, and security issues are among the main factors which elucidate these developments.