E.E.C. calls for end to clashes

Press, 18 April 1986, Page 6

E.E.C. calls for end to clashes

NZPA-Reuter Paris The European Economic Community called today for an end to all military action in the Mediterranean and reissued its appeal for restraint in the United States-Libya crisis. Speaking on behalf of the 12 member nations after a snap meeting of Foreign Ministers in Paris the Dutch Foreign Minister, Mr Hans Van den Broek, said, “Everything must now be done to avoid any further military action. We call on all parties for self-restraint.” The Ministers had gone into an an emergency session to try to work out a common response to the bombing of Libya. E.E.C. diplomats said Colonel Gadaffi’s pledge yesterday to end intensification of violence in the Mediterranean had calmed some fears that the Libyan-United States clash might spill over into southern Europe. The Ministers had called for restraint on all sides when they met in The Hague on Monday but their call was ignored by Washington, which launched the air raids on Tripoli and Benghazi a few hours later.

Yesterday’s meeting was called by Greece, which received special thanks from Colonel Gadaffi for its vigorous condemnation of the American attack. Most other E.E.C. nations had expressed various degrees of criticism of the American action. Mr Van den Broek, the E.E.C. president, had deplored the attack as an escalation of violence.